For honest and ethical appraisals, count on Benchmark Appraising, LLC

We think of our business as a profession. Requirements to become a licensed appraiser have become more difficult than ever before. So it goes without question in this day and age that real estate appraisal can definitely be considered a profession rather than a trade. In our field, as with any profession, we are bound by an ethical code.

We have quite a few obligations as appraisers but above everything we answer to our clients. Generally, 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 desire to review an appraisal report, you generally have to request it through your lender. Other obligations also include, accurate figures appropriate to the scope of the assignment, acquiring and maintaining a respectable level of competency and education, and of course, the appraiser must behave in a professional manner. Maintaining high ethics and client confidentiality is just normal course of business for us at Benchmark Appraising, LLC.

Appraisers can also have fiduciary responsibilities to third parties, such as homeowners, buyers and sellers, or others. Typically the third parties are explicitly defined in the appraisal report. An appraiser's fiduciary responsibility is restricted to those third parties who the appraiser is aware of, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the job.

Appraisers also have standards outside of boundaries of clients and others. For example, appraisers must keep their work files for at least five years - at Benchmark Appraising, LLC you can rest assured that we stick to that rule.

Benchmark Appraising, LLC holds itself to the industry standards and mandates set in place for ethics. We can't accept anything less from ourselves. We don't do assignments on contingency fees. 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 biggest no-no, because it would tend to make appraisers raise the value of homes or properties to increase their paycheck. We don't do that. Other unethical practices may be defined 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 rest easy knowing we are going above and beyond to provide an unbiased determination of the home or property value.

With Benchmark Appraising, LLC, you won't have any doubts that you're receiving 100 percent ethical, honest service.