Honesty and Integrity: Conn Appraisal Service (478) 746-1421

Appraising is a profession, and appraisers are professionals. The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have increased more than ever in the past. That's why 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 have a strict ethical code.

We have a lot of obligations as appraisers but our main duty is to our clients. More often than not, in residential practice, the lender places the order to the appraiser, becoming the appraiser's client. Appraisers have rules and regulations they must follow, including confidentiality for their clients a homeowner, if you want to obtain a copy of an appraisal report, you should get it through your lender. Other obligations also include, accurate figures appropriate to the nature of the assignment, attaining and sustaining an appropriate level of competency and education, and of course, the appraiser must behave in a professional manner. Here at Conn Appraisal Service (478) 746-1421, we take these ethical responsibilities very to heart.

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

There are also ethical rules that have nothing to do with clients and others. For example, appraisers must be able to produce their work files for at least five years - at Conn Appraisal Service (478) 746-1421 you can rest assured that we adhere to that rule.

When busy with an assignment, we follow the highest ethical standards possible. We don't do assignments on contingency fees. That is, we are not able to agree to do an appraisal report and collect payment on the contingency of the loan closing. We can't do 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 set ourselves to a higher standard. Other unprofessional practices may be established by state law or professional organizations to which an appraiser belongs.

The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) also defines unethical behavior 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 be at ease knowing we are doing everything we can to provide an unbiased determination of the home or property value.

With Conn Appraisal Service (478) 746-1421, you can be assured of 100 percent ethical, honest service.