 ZREC, LLC maintains the highest professional ethicsAppraising is a profession, and appraisers are professionals. Requirements to become a licensed appraiser have increased more than ever before. That's why it goes without question these days that real estate appraisal can certainly be dubbed a profession rather than a trade. In our field, as with any profession, we are bound by an ethical code.
An appraiser's primary obligation is to their client.
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 retained to maintain independence.
Subsequently, appraisers are privy to a lot of data, and like an attorney, can only discuss many of these matters with their client. As
a homeowner, if you would like to review an appraisal report, you normally should obtain it via your lender instead of the appraiser.
In some cases appraisers will have fiduciary responsibilities to third parties, including homeowners, both sellers and buyers, or others. Those third parties normally are defined in the appraisal assignment itself. An appraiser's fiduciary duty is restricted to those parties who the appraiser is aware of, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the order.
There are also ethical rules that have nothing to do with whom we share information. For example, appraisers must keep their work files for at least five years - something else ZREC, LLC makes a part of their standard routine. When creating reports, we follow the highest ethical standards possible. Working on orders based on contingency fees is never an option. That means we are not able to agree to do an appraisal report and collect payment on the contingency of the loan closing. There's a definite conflict of interest if an appraiser can report a larger value with the reward of getting paid more money! We set ourselves to a higher standard. Finally, the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (or simply "USPAP") also states 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", or "the amount of a value opinion" as well as other situations. We diligently follow these rules to the letter which means you can be confident we are going above and beyond to get you an accurate home or property value. When you order an appraisal from ZREC, LLC, we'll make sure you're getting the professional service you deserve along with the high ethical standards we're known for. |
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