For honest and ethical appraisals, trust Colcord & Associates

We think of our job as a profession. The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have increased more than ever before. So it goes without question these days that real estate appraisal can certainly be dubbed a profession as opposed to a trade. As with any profession we have a strict ethical code.

For an appraiser the primary responsibility is to his or her client. Most of the time, 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 an appraisal report, you normally have to get it through your lender. Other obligations also include, numerical accuracy depending on the scope of the assignment, reaching and keeping a respectable level of competency and education, and of course, the appraiser must behave in a professional manner. Maintaining high ethics and client confidentiality is is what we do everyday at Colcord & Associates.

Appraisers will sometimes be obligated to consider the interests of third parties, such as homeowners, both sellers and buyers, or others. Normally the third parties are explicitly defined in the appraisal report. An appraiser's fiduciary roll is limited to those parties who the appraiser is aware of, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the assignment.

There are also ethical duties that have nothing to do with clients and others. For example, appraisers must store their work files for a minimum of five years - at Colcord & Associates you can rest assured that we adhere to that rule.

We require the highest ethical standards possible from ourselves. We never do assignments on contingency fees. That is, we can't agree to do an appraisal report and collect the fee only if the loan closes. Another practice that's restricted is doing assignments on percentage fees. That is probably the appraisal professions most important rule, because it would tend to make appraisers increase the value of homes or properties to increase their fee. We set ourselves to a higher standard. Other improper practices may be established by state law or professional organizations to which an appraiser belongs.

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

As soon as you engage Colcord & Associates we'll make sure you're getting the professional service you expect along with the ethical handling of appraisals that we're known for.