For honest and ethical appraisals, trust Spanos Appraisal Services

By and large, appraising a long term career. Requirements to become a licensed appraiser have increased more than ever in the past. So it goes without question in this day and age that real estate appraisal can definitely be called a profession as opposed to a trade. In our field, as with any profession, we are bound by ethical considerations.

As appraisers our main responsibility is to their client. Typically, in residential practice, the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal. Certain matters pertaining to an assignment can only be discussed with an appraiser's client. As a a homeowner, if you want a copy of an appraisal report, you should get it from your lender. Other obligations also include, numerical accuracy depending on the assignment's nature, attaining and maintaining an adequate level of competency and education, and of course, the appraiser must behave in a professional manner. Here at Spanos Appraisal Services, we take these ethical responsibilities very seriously.

Appraisers will regularly be required to consider the interests of 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 third parties who the appraiser is aware of, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the assignment.

Appraisers also have standards outside of boundaries of clients and others. For example, appraisers must store their work files for at least five years - something else Spanos Appraisal Services makes a part of their standard routine.

We require the highest ethical standards possible from ourselves. We never do assignments on contingency fees. That is, we are not able to agree to do an appraisal report and collect the fee only if the loan closes. We can't do assignments on percentage fees. That is probably the appraisal professions biggest no-no, because it would invite appraisal fraud since raising the value 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 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," in addition to other situations We follow these rules to the letter which means you can be at ease knowing we are going above and beyond to provide an unbiased determination of the home or property value.

With Spanos Appraisal Services, you won't have any doubts that you're getting 100 percent ethical, professional service.