Honesty and Integrity: ALS Appraisal Services

By and large, appraising a long term career. The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have increased more than ever before. That's why it goes without question these days that real estate appraisal can unquestionably be dubbed a profession rather than a trade. As with any profession we are bound by ethical considerations.

We have a lot of obligations as appraisers but our chief duty is to our clients. More often than not, in residential practice, the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal. Appraisers are required to only disclosing information to their clients, and as a homeowner, if you require a copy of the appraisal document, you should get it from your lender. Other obligations also include, accurate figures appropriate to the parameters of the assignment, reaching and sustaining a certain level of competency and education, and the appraiser must conduct him or herself as a professional. Here at ALS Appraisal Services, we take these ethical responsibilities very seriously.

In some cases appraisers will have fiduciary responsibilities to third parties, including homeowners, both buyers and sellers, or others. Generally the third parties are clearly defined in the appraisal report. An appraiser's fiduciary roll is only to those parties who the appraiser knows, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the job.

Appraisers also have rules outside of boundaries of clients and others. For example, appraisers must be able to produce their work files for a minimum of five years - at ALS Appraisal Services you can rest assured that we stick to that rule.

We meet or beat the industry standards and guidelines set in place for ethics. We won't accept anything less from ourselves. Working on orders 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. We don't do assignments on percentage fees. That is perhaps the appraisal industries biggest taboo, because it would invite fraudulent practices since raising the estimate of the home would raise the their paycheck. We set ourselves to a higher standard. Other improper practices may be defined by state law or professional organizations to which an appraiser belongs.

The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (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," "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 objectively determine the home or property value.

With ALS Appraisal Services, you can be assured of 100 percent ethical, professional service.