Dalton Appraisals maintains the highest professional ethics

Generally, appraising a long term career. The rigors of becoming 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 dubbed a profession as opposed to a trade. As with any profession we have a strict ethical code.

We have a lot of responsibilities as appraisers but above everything we answer to our clients. Generally, for a typical residential appraisal, the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal. Certain matters pertaining to an assignment can only be discussed with an appraiser's client. As a a homeowner, if you require to review an appraisal report, you normally have to request it from your lender. Other responsibilities also include, numerical accuracy depending on the assignment's nature, acquiring and maintaining an appropriate level of competency and education, and the appraiser must conduct him or herself as a professional. Here at Dalton Appraisals, we take these ethical responsibilities very seriously.

Appraisers will regularly need to consider the interests of third parties, including homeowners, sellers and buyers, or others. Those third parties normally are defined in scope of the appraisal assignment itself. An appraiser's fiduciary duty is limited 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 backup their work files for a minimum of five years - at Dalton Appraisals you can rest assured that we abide by that rule.

We demand the highest ethical standards possible from ourselves. Doing assignments on contingency fees is never an option. That is, we don'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 probably the appraisal industries 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 unethical practices may be defined by state law or professional organizations that the appraiser belongs.

The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) also states unethical behavior 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," as well as other situations. We follow these rules to the letter which means you can rest easy knowing we are going above and beyond to provide an unbiased determination of the home or property value.

With Dalton Appraisals, you won't have any doubts that you're receiving 100 percent ethical, honest service.