 For honest and ethical appraisals, trust Central Iowa AppraisersWe consider what we do as a profession. The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have become more difficult than ever in the past. So it goes without question these days that real estate appraisal can certainly be called a profession rather than a trade. As with any profession we are bound by ethical considerations.
We have quite a few obligations as appraisers, but first and foremost we answer to our clients.
More often than not, in residential practice, 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.
Appraisers are privy to a lot of information, and like an attorney, can only discuss many of these matters with their client. As
a homeowner, if you desire a copy of an appraisal report, you generally should get it through your lender.
Appraisers will frequently be obligated to consider the interests of third parties, including homeowners, sellers and buyers, or others. Those third parties normally are listed in the appraisal assignment itself. An appraiser's fiduciary duty is only to those third parties who the appraiser is aware of, based on the scope of work or other things in the framework of the job.
There are also ethical standards that have nothing to do with clients and others. For example, appraisers must backup their work files for a minimum of five years - at Central Iowa Appraisers you can rest assured that we stick to that rule. We meet or exceed the industry standards and mandates set in place for ethics. We can't accept anything less from ourselves. Doing assignments based on contingency fees is not something we can consider. In other words, we can't agree to do an appraisal report and collect payment on the contingency of the loan closing. Anyone should be able to see that fabricating a property's value to achieve what amounts to a bigger paycheck is unethical! Finally, the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice 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" as well as other situations. We diligently follow these rules to the letter which means you can be assured we are doing everything we can to get you an accurate home or property value. With Central Iowa Appraisers, you can be assured of 100 percent ethical, professional service. |
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