Honesty and Integrity: Appraisal - DK

We consider our what we do a profession. Requirements to become a licensed appraiser have increased more than ever in the past. So it goes without question in this day and age that real estate appraisal can certainly be considered a profession as opposed to a trade. In our field, as with any profession, we must follow strict ethical considerations.

As appraisers our primary obligation is to their client. Generally, for a typical residential appraisal, the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal. Appraisers have certain duties of privacy to their clients, and as a homeowner, if you want to review the appraisal document, you should obtain it from your lender. Other obligations also include, numerical accuracy depending on the assignment's nature, acquiring and sustaining an appropriate level of competency and education, and of course, the appraiser must behave in a professional manner. Here at Appraisal - DK, we take these ethical responsibilities very to heart.

Appraisers will often be obligated to consider the interests of third parties, such as homeowners, both sellers and buyers, or others. Those third parties normally are defined in scope of the appraisal assignment itself. An appraiser's fiduciary duty is only to those parties who the appraiser knows, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the job.

There are also ethical duties that have nothing to do with whom we share information. For example, appraisers must keep their work files for a minimum of five years - at Appraisal - DK you can rest assured that we stick to that rule.

While busy with an appraisal, we follow the highest ethical standards possible. Working on orders that contingency fees is not something we can consider That is, we don't agree to do an appraisal report and collect the fee only if the loan closes. We can't do assignments on percentage fees. That is perhaps the appraisal professions most important rule, because it would tend to make appraisers up the value of homes or properties to increase their fee. We set ourselves to a higher standard. Other unprofessional practices may be defined by state law or professional organizations that the appraiser belongs.

The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) also 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," "the amount of a value opinion," in addition to other situations We diligently follow these rules to the letter which means you can be confident we are doing everything we can to objectively determine the home or property value.

With Appraisal - DK, you won't have any doubts that you're getting 100 percent ethical, professional service.