American Appraisal, Inc. upholds the highest professional ethics

We think of our business as a profession. The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have become more difficult than ever before. That's why it goes without question in this day and age that real estate appraisal can unquestionably be considered a profession rather than a trade. In our field, as with any profession, we must follow strict ethical considerations.

We have a great deal of obligations as appraisers but our primary duty is to our clients. Typically, for a standard residential appraisal, 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 matters with their client. As a homeowner, if you would like a copy of an appraisal report, you normally have to get it through your lender. Other responsibilities also include, numerical accuracy depending on the scope of the assignment, acquiring and sustaining a certain level of competency and education, and of course, the appraiser must behave in a professional manner. Maintaining high ethics and client confidentiality is just normal course of business for us at American Appraisal, Inc..

Appraisers can often have fiduciary obligations to third parties, including homeowners, both sellers and buyers, or others. Normally the third parties are clearly defined in the appraisal report. An appraiser's fiduciary duty is only to those parties who the appraiser is aware of, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the order.

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 - at American Appraisal, Inc. you can rest assured that we stick to that rule.

We require the highest professional integrity possible from ourselves. We never do assignments on contingency fees. That is, we can't agree to do an appraisal report and collect payment on the contingency of the loan closing. We can't do assignments on percentage fees. That is probably the appraisal professions biggest no-no, because it would invite fraudulent practices since raising the value of the home would raise the their paycheck. We don't do that. Other unethical practices may be established by state law or professional societies to which an appraiser belongs.

The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) also states 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," "the amount of a value opinion," in addition to other situations We follow these rules to the letter which means you can rest easy knowing we are doing everything we can to provide an unbiased determination of the home or property value.

With American Appraisal, Inc., you can be assured of 100 percent ethical, honest service.