Appraiser Ethics
Residential appraising is a profession and appraisers are professionals. In our field, as with any profession, we are bound by ethical considerations.

An appraiser's primary responsibility is to his or her client.  Normally, in residential practice, the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal to enable that lender to decide whether or not to make the mortgage loan.  Appraisers have certain duties of confidentiality to their clients: as a homeowner, if you want a copy of an appraisal report, you normally have to request it through your lender.   There are obligations of numerical accuracy; an obligation to attain and maintain a certain level of competency and education; and must generally an obligation to conduct himself or herself in a professional manner.  At Trusted Valuation Solutions we take these ethical responsibilities seriously.

Appraisers may also have fiduciary obligations to third parties such as homeowners (buyers and sellers) or to others.  These third parties  are spelled out in the appraisal assignment itself. An appraiser's fiduciary duty is limited to those third parties based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the assignment.

There are also ethical rules that have nothing to do with clients and others: Appraisers must keep their work files for a minimum of five years. 

We perform to the highest ethical standards possible.  We don't do assignments on contingency fees.  That is, we don't agree to do an appraisal report and get paid only if the loan closes.  We don't do assignments on percentage fees.  That is probably the appraisal profession’s biggest no-no, because it would tend to make appraisers inflate the value of homes or properties to increase their paycheck.  We don't do that.  Other unethical practices may be defined by state law or professional societies to which an appraiser belongs.

The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) also defines as unethical 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;" and other unethical practices that would interfere with an independent value of the property.  You can be assured that we are working to objectively determine the home or property value.

You can be assured of Trusted Valuation Solutions commitment to a 100 percent ethical, professional service.