For honest and ethical appraisals, rely on Harpeth Appraisal

Appraising is a profession, and appraisers are professionals. Requirements to become 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 considered a profession as opposed to a trade. As with any profession we have a strict ethical code.

We have many responsibilities as appraisers but above everything we answer to our clients. More often than not, in residential practice, the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal. Appraisers are required to only disclosing information to their clients, and as a homeowner, if you want to obtain a copy of an appraisal report, you should obtain it through your lender. Other responsibilities also include, accurate calculations appropriate to the parameters of the report, acquiring and maintaining an adequate level of competency and education, and of course, the appraiser must behave in a professional manner. Maintaining high ethics is just normal course of business for us at Harpeth Appraisal.

Appraisers can frequently have fiduciary responsibilities to third parties, including homeowners, both sellers and buyers, or others. Those third parties normally are listed in scope of the appraisal assignment itself. An appraiser's fiduciary responsibility 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 standards outside of boundaries of clients and others. For example, appraisers must be able to produce their work files for at least five years - something else Harpeth Appraisal takes very seriously.

We demand the highest ethical standards possible from ourselves. Doing orders on contingency fees is not something we can consider 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 perhaps the appraisal professions most important rule, because it would invite fraudulent practices since increasing the estimate of the home would raise the their paycheck. We don't do that. Other unethical practices may be defined by state law or professional societies to which an appraiser belongs.

The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) also states 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 working hard to provide an unbiased determination of the home or property value.

When you order an appraisal from Harpeth Appraisal we'll make sure you're getting the professional service you expect along with the ethical handling of appraisals that we're known for.