 C.S. Heaton Appraisals Inc maintains the highest professional ethicsTypically, appraising is a long term career. Requirements to become a licensed appraiser have become more difficult than ever in the past. So it goes without question in this day and age that real estate appraisal can certainly be dubbed a profession rather than a trade. As with any profession we have a strict ethical code.
We have quite a few responsibilities as appraisers, but above everything we answer to our clients.
Typically, in residential practice, the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal, and often the appraisal is ordered by a third party the lender has hired in order to maintain independence.
It follows that appraisers are typically restricted to only disclosing their findings to their clients, so as
a homeowner, if you desire to review the appraisal document, you generally should get it via your lender.
Appraisers will sometimes need to consider the interests of third parties, such as homeowners, both buyers and sellers, or others. Typically the third parties are clearly defined in the appraisal report. An appraiser's fiduciary role is limited to those third 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 clients and others. For example, appraisers must backup their work files for at least five years - something else C.S. Heaton Appraisals Inc makes a part of their standard routine. We require the highest professional integrity possible from ourselves. Working on assignments based on contingency fees is not something we can consider. That means we are not able to agree to do an appraisal report and base our pay upon coming up with a particular value conclusion. There's certainly a conflict of interest if an appraiser can report a larger value with the reward of getting paid more money! This isn't how we operate. Finally, the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (or simply "USPAP") also describes unethical behavior 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", or "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 going above and beyond to objectively determine the home or property value. With C.S. Heaton Appraisals Inc, you can be assured of 100 percent ethical, honest service. |
|||||||||
