Honesty and Integrity: RE Appraisal Associates of SWFL, Inc.

Appraising is a profession, and appraisers are professionals. The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have increased more than ever before. So it goes without question in this day and age that real estate appraisal can unquestionably be dubbed a profession as opposed to a trade. As with any profession we are bound by ethical considerations.

The appraiser's main obligation is to his or her client. Most of the time, in residential practice, the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal. Appraisers have certain duties of confidentiality to their clients, and as a homeowner, if you would like to obtain a copy of an appraisal report, you should get it through your lender. Other responsibilities also include, accurate calculations appropriate to the nature of the report, attaining and maintaining an adequate level of competency and education, and of course, the appraiser must behave in a professional manner. Here at RE Appraisal Associates of SWFL, Inc., we take these ethical responsibilities very seriously.

Appraisers will frequently need 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 responsibility is restricted to those parties who the appraiser is aware of, based on the scope of work or other things in the framework of the order.

Appraisers also have standards outside of boundaries of clients and others. For example, appraisers must be able to produce their work files for a minimum of five years - something else RE Appraisal Associates of SWFL, Inc. diligently adheres to.

We demand the highest professional integrity possible from ourselves. Working on assignments that contingency fees is never an option. That is, we don't agree to do an appraisal report and collect payment on the contingency of the loan closing. Another practice that's restricted is doing assignments on percentage fees. That is perhaps the appraisal industries most important rule, because it would tend to make appraisers increase the value of homes or properties to increase their fee. We don't do that. Other unethical practices may be established by state law or professional societies that the appraiser belongs.

The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) also defines 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," "the amount of a value opinion," as well as other situations. We follow these rules to the letter which means you can rest easy knowing we are going above and beyond to provide an unbiased determination of the home or property value.

With RE Appraisal Associates of SWFL, Inc., you won't have any doubts that you're getting 100 percent ethical, honest service.