Accu Value Appraisals upholds the utmost professional ethicsAppraising is a profession, and appraisers are professionals. The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have become more difficult than ever in the past. That's why it goes without question these days that real estate appraisal can definitely be dubbed a profession rather than a trade. As with any profession we are bound by ethical considerations.
The appraiser's primary responsibility is to their client.
Typically, in residential practice, the lender (or an agent of the lender) places the order to the appraiser, becoming the appraiser's client.
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 to obtain a copy of the appraisal document, you normally have to request it via your lender instead of the appraiser.
There are some scenarios in which appraisers will have fiduciary responsibilities to third parties, including homeowners, sellers and buyers, or others. Normally the third parties are specifically defined in the appraisal report. An appraiser's fiduciary responsibility is limited to those third parties who the appraiser is aware of, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the assignment.
There are also ethical duties that have nothing to do with clients and others. For example, appraisers must be able to produce their work files for at least five years - something else Accu Value Appraisals makes a part of their standard routine. Accu Value Appraisals holds itself to the industry standards and rules set in place for ethics. We can't accept anything less from ourselves. Accepting orders where our fee is dependent on our value conclusion is never an option. That means we are not able to agree to do an appraisal report and get paid only if the loan closes. There's certainly a conflict of interest if an appraiser can report a greater value with the reward of getting paid more money! Finally, the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice explicitly describes 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 assured we are doing everything we can to objectively determine the home or property value. As soon as you engage Accu Value Appraisals, we'll make sure you're getting the professional service you deserve along with the high ethical standards we're known for. |