Appraiser Ethics
Appraisal 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.  It is common, in residential practice, the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal. The appraisal report is an important tool the lender will use to decide whether to extend the mortgage loan to the borrower. 

Appraisers have certain duties of confidentiality to their clients. As a homeowner, if you want a copy of an appraisal report, you will receive a copy directly from your lender.

The Certified Appraiser has obligations of numerical accuracy depending on the assignment parameters, and an obligation to attain and maintain a certain level of competency and education.  The Certified Appraiser must always conduct him or herself as a professional. 

Here at the Certified Appraisal Group, LLC we take these ethical responsibilities very seriously.

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

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

Erol Sevin and the Certified Appraisal Group, LLC only perform to the highest ethical standards possible.  We will never accept 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 motivate appraisers to inflate the value of homes or properties to increase their paycheck.  We do not operate this way.  There are other unethical practices that 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 things.  This means you can be assured we are working to objectively determine the home or property value.

You can be assured of 100 percent ethical, professional service when working with Erol Sevin and the Certified appraisal Group, LLC.

For ethical and professional Certified Appraiser service in the following markets please contact us!