Honesty and Integrity: American West Real Estate

Appraising is a profession, and appraisers are professionals. The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have become more difficult than ever before. So it goes without question these days that real estate appraisal can definitely be called a profession as opposed to a trade. As with any profession we have a strict ethical code.

We have quite a few obligations as appraisers but our primary duty is to our clients. Typically, in residential practice, the lender places the order to the appraiser, becoming the appraiser's client. Appraisers have certain duties of privacy to their clients, and as a homeowner, if you desire to obtain a copy of an appraisal report, you should get it through your lender. Other responsibilities also include, numerical accuracy depending on the assignment's nature, acquiring and keeping a particular level of competency and education, and the appraiser must conduct him or herself as a professional. Here at American West Real Estate, we take these ethical responsibilities very to heart.

Appraisers may often have fiduciary responsibilities 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 responsibility is only to those parties who the appraiser knows, based on the scope of work or other things in the framework 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 - at American West Real Estate you can rest assured that we abide by that rule.

American West Real Estate holds itself to the industry standards and mandates set in place for professional behavior. We can't accept anything less from ourselves. Working on orders that contingency fees is never an option. That is, we can't 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 biggest no-no, 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 unprofessional practices may be defined by state law or professional organizations that the appraiser belongs.

The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) also states a violation in ethics as the acceptance 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 diligently follow these rules to the letter which means you can be at ease knowing we are working hard to objectively determine the home or property value.

With American West Real Estate, you won't have any doubts that you're getting 100 percent ethical, honest service.