West Tennessee Appraisal maintains the highest professional ethics

We think of our business as a profession. Requirements to become a licensed appraiser have increased more than ever in the past. So it goes without question these days that real estate appraisal can definitely be dubbed a profession as opposed to a trade. As with any profession we are bound by an ethical code.

For an appraiser the chief obligation is to his or her client. Normally, for a normal residential appraisal, the lender places the order to the appraiser, becoming the appraiser's client. Appraisers are required to only disclosing information to their clients, and as a homeowner, if you would like to obtain a copy of an appraisal report, you should obtain it from your lender. Other obligations also include, accurate calculations appropriate to the parameters of the report, reaching and maintaining a respectable level of competency and education, and of course, the appraiser must behave in a professional manner. Here at West Tennessee Appraisal, we take these ethical responsibilities very seriously.

In some cases appraisers will have fiduciary responsibilities to third parties, including homeowners, sellers and buyers, or others. Those third parties normally are defined in the appraisal assignment itself. An appraiser's fiduciary roll is limited to those third 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 clients and others. For example, appraisers must backup their work files for a minimum of five years - at West Tennessee Appraisal 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 refuse to accept anything less from ourselves. We never do assignments on contingency fees. That is, we don't agree to do an appraisal report and get paid 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 tend to make appraisers raise the value of homes or properties to increase their fee. We don't do that. Other improper practices may be established by state law or professional societies that the appraiser belongs.

The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) also states 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," in addition to 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 West Tennessee 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.