 Honesty and Integrity: Legacy AppraisalsBy and large, appraising is a long term career. Requirements to become a licensed appraiser have increased more than ever before. That's why it goes without question in this day and age that real estate appraisal can unquestionably be called a profession as opposed to a trade. As with any profession we are bound by an ethical code.
We have quite a few obligations as appraisers, but our chief duty is to our clients.
Most of the time, for a normal 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 retained to maintain independence.
Thereon, appraisers are typically limited to only disclosing information to their clients, so as
a homeowner, if you desire to obtain a copy of the appraisal document, you normally have to get it from your lender.
Appraisers may also have fiduciary obligations to third parties, such as homeowners, both sellers and buyers, or others. Those third parties normally are defined 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 order.
There are also ethical standards that have nothing to do with whom we share information. For example, appraisers must backup their work files for a minimum of five years - at Legacy Appraisals you can rest assured that we stick to that rule. We meet or exceed the industry standards and mandates set in place for professional behavior. We refuse to accept anything less from ourselves. Doing assignments where our fee is dependent on our value conclusion is not something we can consider. That is, we are not able to agree to do an appraisal report and collect payment on the contingency of the loan closing. There's certainly a conflict of interest if an appraiser can report a larger value with the reward of getting paid more money! We just don't do it. Finally, the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice also 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 diligently follow these rules to the letter which means you can be at ease knowing we are working hard to get you an accurate home or property value. With Legacy Appraisals, you can be assured of 100 percent ethical, professional service. |
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