Appraiser Ethics
Appraisal is a profession, and appraisers are professionals. In our field as with any profession we are bound by ethical considerations.

An appraiser's primary responsibility is to his or her client.  Normally, in residential practice, the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal to decide whether to make the mortgage loan.  Appraisers have certain duties of confidentiality to their clients -- as a homeowner, if you want a copy of an appraisal report, you normally have to request it through your lender -- obligations of numerical accuracy depending on the assignment parameters, an obligation to attain and maintain a certain level of competency and education, and must generally conduct him or herself as a professional.  

Appraisers may also have fiduciary obligations to third parties, such as homeowners, both buyers and sellers, or others.  Those third parties normally are spelled out in the appraisal assignment itself. An appraiser's fiduciary duty is limited to those third parties who the appraiser knows, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the assignment.

There are ethical rules that have nothing to do with clients and others.  Appraisers must keep their work files for a minimum of five years. 

An appraiser can not do assignments on contingency fees. An appraiser can not agree to do an appraisal report and get paid only if the loan closes.  An appraiser can not do assignments on percentage fees.  That is probably the appraisal profession’s biggest no-no, because it would tend to make appraisers inflate the value of homes or properties to increase their paycheck.  Other unethical practices are defined by state law or professional societies to which an appraiser belongs.

The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) also defines as unethical 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," and other things. 

So, above are all the canned explanations of appraisal ethics. It's easy for an appraisal firm to list everything on a web page, an appraiser is supposed to do. But how can you be sure, that the appraiser you engaged is keeping up with those ethics? The answer is "TRANSPARANCY". Call JWD Appraisal Service, LLC. Speak with us. We will communicate with you every step of the way. We always answer the phone. We never shy away and always answer your questions. It is our mission keep you assured that the best possible job is being done to determine a credible final opinion of value for the property in which you have engaged us in. By the time the final product is delivered to you, you will feel confident that you made the right decision in engaging JWD APPRAISAL SERVICE, LLC.