For honest and ethical appraisals, rely on TCB Appraisal

Appraising is a profession, and appraisers are professionals. Requirements to become a licensed appraiser have become more difficult than ever in the past. So it goes without question these days that real estate appraisal can certainly be called a profession as opposed to a trade. As with any profession we must follow strict ethical considerations.

An appraiser's main obligation is to their client. Normally, in residential practice, the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal. Appraisers have certain duties of privacy to their clients, and as a homeowner, if you desire a copy of an appraisal report, you should request it from your lender. Other responsibilities also include, numerical accuracy depending on the assignment's nature, reaching and keeping an appropriate 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 TCB Appraisal.

Appraisers can also have fiduciary responsibilities to third parties, including homeowners, buyers and sellers, or others. Those third parties normally are defined in scope of the appraisal assignment itself. An appraiser's fiduciary roll is restricted to those parties who the appraiser is aware of, based on the scope of work or other things in the framework of the order.

There are also ethical duties that have nothing to do with whom we share information. For example, appraisers must store their work files for at least five years - something else TCB Appraisal diligently adheres to.

When creating reports, we follow the highest ethical standards possible. Working on assignments that contingency fees is never an option. That is, we don'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 industries biggest no-no, because it would invite fraudulent practices since increasing the value of the home would up the their paycheck. We set ourselves to a higher standard. Other unprofessional practices may be established by state law or professional societies 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," 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 provide an unbiased determination of the home or property value.

When you order an appraisal from TCB Appraisal we'll make sure you're getting the professional service you expect along with the an ethical approach with appraisals that we're known for.