Certified Appraisers of Greater Kalamazoo, LLC maintains the utmost professional ethicsWe consider what we do as a profession. Requirements to become a licensed appraiser have increased more than ever in the past. So it goes without question in this day and age that real estate appraisal can definitely be called a profession as opposed to a trade. As with any profession we have a strict ethical code.We have quite a few obligations as appraisers, but first and foremost we answer to our clients. Typically, for a standard residential appraisal, the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal, and often the appraisal is ordered by a third party the lender has hired in order to maintain independence. It's important to know that certain matters relating to an assignment are to be shared exclusively with the appraiser's client. So, as a homeowner, if you would like a copy of an appraisal report, you generally have to obtain it from your lender instead of the appraiser.
Appraisers can sometimes have fiduciary obligations to third parties, such as homeowners, sellers and buyers, or others. Those third parties normally are listed in scope of the appraisal assignment itself. An appraiser's fiduciary responsibility is only to those third parties who the appraiser knows, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the job.
Appraisers also have duties outside of boundaries of clients and others. For example, appraisers must be able to produce their work files for a minimum of five years - at Certified Appraisers of Greater Kalamazoo, LLC you can rest assured that we stick to that rule. We demand the highest ethical standards possible from ourselves. Accepting orders where our fee is dependent on our value conclusion is never an option. That is, we can't agree to do an appraisal report and base our pay upon coming up with a particular value conclusion. There's an obvious conflict of interest if an appraiser can report an unsubstantiated value with the reward of getting paid more money! We set ourselves to a higher standard. Finally, the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (or simply "USPAP") explicitly states unethical behavior as accepting 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", or "the amount of a value opinion" in addition to other situations We follow these rules to the letter which means you can rest easy knowing we are doing everything we can to get you an accurate home or property value. When you request an appraisal from Certified Appraisers of Greater Kalamazoo, LLC, we'll make sure you're getting the professional service you deserve along with the business principles we're known for. |