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.  Normally, in residential practice, the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal to decide whether to make a mortgage loan.  However, the client can also be a home owner who needs an appraisal for whatever reason, an attorney, a prospective buyer of real estate, and et cetera.  Appraisers have certain duties of confidentiality to their clients -- as a homeowner, if you want a copy of an appraisal report, you normally have to request it through your lender -- obligations of numerical accuracy depending on the assignment parameters, an obligation to attain and maintain a certain level of competency and education, and he/she should conduct him or herself as a professional.  At Monroe/Owen Appraisal, Inc., 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 of, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the assignment.

In addition, there are other ethical rules and standards that have nothing to do with clients. 

At Monroe/Owen Appraisal, Inc. we strive to do our job to the highest ethical standards possible.  We will not accept appraisal assignments based on contingency fees.  That is, we don't agree to do an appraisal report and get paid only if the loan closes.  We will not do appraisal assignments based on percentage fees because it would tend to make appraisers inflate the value of the real estate that is being appraised in order to increase their paychecks.  Other unethical practices may be defined by state law.

The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) requires appraisers to perform their work in an ethical manner.  It also dictates certain things that are considered unethical such as the acceptance of an assignment assignment that is contingent on "...the reporting of a predetermined 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. 

With USPAP as un umbrella for all of the appraisal assignments that we do and with our philosophy of wanting to do the best possible work for you, our client, you can be assured that we are working not only hard for you, but also with the professionalism that you expect from us.