Honesty and Integrity: Daniel Appraisals

We think of our job as a profession. The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have increased more than ever before. That's why it goes without question these days that real estate appraisal can unquestionably be considered a profession as opposed to a trade. In our field, as with any profession, we are bound by ethical considerations.

We have a lot of obligations as appraisers but our chief duty is to our clients. Typically, for a normal residential appraisal, the lender places the order to the appraiser, becoming the appraiser's client. Appraisers have certain duties of confidentiality to their clients, and as a homeowner, if you require a copy of an appraisal report, you should get it from your lender. Other obligations also include, accurate calculations appropriate to the parameters of the assignment, attaining and keeping an appropriate level of competency and education, and the appraiser must conduct him or herself as a professional. Here at Daniel Appraisals, we take these ethical responsibilities very seriously.

Appraisers may also have fiduciary responsibilities to third parties, including homeowners, sellers and buyers, or others. Those third parties normally are defined in the appraisal assignment itself. An appraiser's fiduciary duty 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 keep their work files for at least five years - at Daniel Appraisals you can rest assured that we abide by that rule.

We demand the highest ethical standards possible from ourselves. Doing orders on contingency fees is not something we can consider That is, we don't agree to do an appraisal report and collect payment on the contingency of the loan closing. Another practice that's restricted is doing assignments on percentage fees. That is probably the appraisal professions most important rule, because it would invite appraisal fraud since increasing the value of the home would increase the their paycheck. We set ourselves to a higher standard. Other unprofessional practices may be defined by state law or professional organizations that the appraiser belongs.

The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) also defines unethical behavior 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 confident we are going above and beyond to objectively determine the home or property value.

When you order an appraisal from Daniel Appraisals we'll make sure you're getting the professional service you expect along with the ethical handling of appraisals that we're known for.