 Honesty and Integrity: J.S. Appraisals, Inc.Appraising is a profession, and appraisers are professionals. The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have become more difficult than ever before. That's why it goes without question these days that real estate appraisal can unquestionably be dubbed a profession rather than a trade. As with any profession we have a strict ethical code.
An appraiser's chief obligation is to their client.
Typically, for a normal residential appraisal, the lender (or an agent of the lender) places the order to the appraiser, becoming the appraiser's client.
It's important to know that certain details relating to an assignment are to be discussed with the appraiser's client. So, as
a homeowner, if you would like to obtain a copy of the appraisal document, you generally have to get it via your lender instead of the appraiser.
In some cases appraisers will have fiduciary responsibilities to third parties, such as homeowners, sellers and buyers, or others. Those third parties normally are spelled out in the appraisal assignment itself. An appraiser's fiduciary duty is limited to those parties who the appraiser is aware of, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the assignment.
There are also ethical standards that have nothing to do with whom we share information. For example, appraisers must store their work files for a minimum of five years - at J.S. Appraisals, Inc. 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 refuse to accept anything less from ourselves. Doing assignments where our fee is dependent on our value conclusion is never an option. That means we can't agree to do an appraisal report and collect the fee only if the loan closes. There's a definite conflict of interest if an appraiser can report a larger value and then get paid more money! This isn't how we operate. Finally, the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (or simply "USPAP") also states a violation in ethics 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 rest easy knowing we are working hard to provide an unbiased determination of the home or property value. With J.S. Appraisals, Inc., you won't have any doubts that you're getting 100 percent ethical, professional service. |
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