 Honesty and Integrity: Tanya K. BirrenAppraising is a profession, and appraisers are professionals. The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have become more difficult than ever in the past. That's why it goes without question these days that real estate appraisal can definitely be called a profession rather than a trade. As with any profession we are bound by an ethical code.
An appraiser's main responsibility is to their client.
Typically, in residential practice, the lender (or an agent of the lender) places the order to the appraiser, becoming the appraiser's client.
Certain matters relating to an assignment are to be discussed exclusively with the appraiser's client. So, as
a homeowner, if you would like to obtain a copy of an appraisal report, you generally have to request it from your lender instead of the appraiser.
There are some scenarios in which appraisers will have fiduciary responsibilities to third parties, such as homeowners, sellers and buyers, or others. Typically the third parties are clearly defined in the appraisal report. An appraiser's fiduciary duty is limited to those third parties who the appraiser knows, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the order.
Appraisers also have standards outside of boundaries of with whom we share information For example, appraisers must store their work files for a minimum of five years - at Tanya K. Birren you can rest assured that we stick to that rule. We only perform to the highest ethical standards possible. Doing orders based on contingency fees is not something we can consider. In other words, we don't agree to do an appraisal report and collect the fee only if the loan closes. Anyone should be able to see that inflating a value to achieve essentially a bigger paycheck is unethical! Finally, the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice 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 follow these rules to the letter which means you can be confident we are going above and beyond to objectively determine the home or property value. As soon as you engage Tanya K. Birren, we'll make sure you're getting the professional service you deserve along with the principles we're known for. |
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