For honest and ethical appraisals, trust Herrin Appraisal Company

Appraising is a profession, and appraisers are professionals. Requirements to become a licensed appraiser have increased more than ever before. So it goes without question in this day and age that real estate appraisal can unquestionably be dubbed a profession as opposed to a trade. As with any profession we have a strict ethical code.

For an appraiser the primary obligation is to his or her client. More often than not, for a standard residential appraisal, the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal. Appraisers have certain duties of confidentiality to their clients, and as a homeowner, if you want a copy of an appraisal report, you normally have to request it through your lender. Other obligations also include, accurate calculations appropriate to the scope of the assignment, attaining and keeping an adequate level of competency and education, and the appraiser must conduct him or herself as a professional. Here at Herrin Appraisal Company, we take these ethical responsibilities very seriously.

Appraisers will often need to consider the interests of third parties, such as homeowners, buyers and sellers, or others. Normally the third parties are explicitly defined in the appraisal report. An appraiser's fiduciary duty is limited to those parties who the appraiser knows, based on the scope of work or other things in the framework of the assignment.

Appraisers also have rules outside of boundaries of with whom we share information For example, appraisers must keep their work files for a minimum of five years - something else Herrin Appraisal Company takes very seriously.

We meet or beat the industry standards and rules set in place for professional behavior. We can't accept anything less from ourselves. Working on assignments that contingency fees is not something we can consider 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 professions most important rule, because it would tend to make appraisers raise the value of homes or properties to increase their paycheck. We don't do that. Other improper practices may be established by state law or professional societies to which an appraiser belongs.

The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) 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," "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 doing everything we can to objectively determine the home or property value.

When you engage Herrin Appraisal Company we'll make sure you're getting the professional service you expect along with the ethical handling of appraisals that we're known for.