Honesty and Integrity: A+ Real Estate Appraisals, Inc.

Appraising is, by and large, a long term career. Requirements to become a licensed appraiser have increased more than ever before. That's why it goes without question these days that real estate appraisal can certainly be called a profession as opposed to a trade. As with any profession we must follow strict ethical considerations.

We have quite a few obligations as appraisers but our chief duty is to our clients. Normally, in residential practice, the lender places the order to the appraiser, becoming the appraiser's client. Appraisers have certain duties of privacy to their clients, and as a homeowner, if you would like to review the appraisal document, you should get it through your lender. Other obligations also include, accurate sums appropriate to the nature of the assignment, reaching and keeping a certain level of competency and education, and the appraiser must conduct him or herself as a professional. Maintaining high ethics is standard operating procedure for us at A+ Real Estate Appraisals, Inc..

There are some scenarios in which appraisers will have fiduciary responsibilities to third parties, such as homeowners, buyers and sellers, or others. Those third parties normally are spelled out in the appraisal assignment itself. An appraiser's fiduciary responsibility is only to those parties who the appraiser knows, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the assignment.

Appraisers also have standards outside of boundaries of clients and others. For example, appraisers must be able to produce their work files for a minimum of five years - something else A+ Real Estate Appraisals, Inc. takes very seriously.

A+ Real Estate Appraisals, Inc. holds itself to the industry standards and mandates set in place for professional behavior. We can't accept anything less from ourselves. Working on assignments that contingency fees is never an option. That is, we are not able to agree to do an appraisal report and get paid only if the loan closes. We can't do assignments on percentage fees. That is probably the appraisal industries most important rule, because it would tend to make appraisers inflate the value of homes or properties to increase their paycheck. We set ourselves to a higher standard. Other unethical practices may be established by state law or professional societies that the appraiser belongs.

The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) also states a violation in ethics as the acceptance of an assignment that is contingent on "the reporting of a pre-determined result (e.g., opinion of value)," "a direction in assignment results that favors the cause of the client," "the amount of a value opinion," in addition to other situations We diligently follow these rules to the letter which means you can be assured we are doing everything we can to objectively determine the home or property value.

When you engage A+ Real Estate Appraisals, Inc. we'll make sure you're getting the professional service you expect along with the an ethical approach with appraisals that we're known for.