 For honest and ethical appraisals, trust Elias Salas, Jr.We consider our business as a profession. Requirements to become a licensed appraiser have become more difficult than ever in the past. So it goes without question these days that real estate appraisal can unquestionably be called a profession as opposed to a trade. In our field, as with any profession, we are bound by an ethical code.
The appraiser's chief responsibility is to their client.
Normally, 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 contracted in order to maintain independence.
It follows that appraisers have certain duties of privacy to their clients, plus strict rules and regulations controlling with whom we share information. So, as
a homeowner, if you want to obtain a copy of an appraisal report, you normally should obtain it through your lender instead of the appraiser.
Appraisers can regularly have fiduciary obligations to third parties, such as homeowners, both sellers and buyers, or others. Those third parties normally are spelled out in the appraisal assignment itself. An appraiser's fiduciary responsibility is limited to those parties who the appraiser is aware of, based on the scope of work or other things in the framework of the order.
Appraisers also have duties outside of boundaries of with whom we share information For example, appraisers must keep their work files for at least five years - at Elias Salas, Jr. you can rest assured that we adhere to that rule. When creating reports, we follow the highest ethical standards possible. Working on orders where our fee is dependent on our value conclusion 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. There's an obvious conflict of interest if an appraiser can report a greater 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 defines a violation in ethics 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", 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 going above and beyond to provide an unbiased determination of the home or property value. As soon as you engage Elias Salas, Jr., we'll make sure you're getting the professional service you expect along with the high ethical standards we're known for. |
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