For honest and ethical appraisals, count on David Seidel

Appraising is a profession, and appraisers are professionals. Requirements to become a licensed appraiser have become more difficult than ever before. So it goes without question these days that real estate appraisal can unquestionably be considered a profession rather than a trade. As with any profession we are bound by an ethical code.

As appraisers our main obligation is to his or her client. More often than not, in residential practice, the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal. Appraisers are privy to a lot of data, and like an attorney can only discuss many matters with their client. As a homeowner, if you would like to obtain a copy of the appraisal document, you should get it through your lender. Other obligations also include, numerical accuracy depending on the scope of the assignment, acquiring and sustaining an adequate level of competency and education, and of course, the appraiser must behave in a professional manner. Here at David Seidel, we take these ethical responsibilities very seriously.

Appraisers will sometimes be obligated to consider the interests of third parties, including homeowners, sellers and buyers, or others. Typically the third parties are specifically defined in the appraisal report. An appraiser's fiduciary responsibility is restricted 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 standards that have nothing to do with whom we share information. For example, appraisers must store their work files for at least five years - at David Seidel you can rest assured that we stick to that rule.

We meet or beat the industry standards and rules set in place for professional behavior. We can't accept anything less from ourselves. Doing orders on contingency fees is not something we can consider That is, we are not able to agree to do an appraisal report and collect the fee only if the loan closes. We don't do assignments on percentage fees. That is perhaps the appraisal professions most important rule, because it would invite fraudulent practices since raising the estimate of the home would inflate the fee. We don't do that. 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 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 at ease knowing we are doing everything we can to objectively determine the home or property value.

With David Seidel, you won't have any doubts that you're getting 100 percent ethical, professional service.