Real estate appraiser ethics - Lawrence P. Finn, RAA

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. Here, we take
these ethical responsibilities very seriously.

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.

We only perform to the highest ethical standards possible. We don't 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 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. 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 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. This means you can be assured we are working to objectively determine the home or property value.

You can be assured of 100 percent ethical, professional service.

PRIVACY STATEMENT

1. Our privacy principles: We are committed to protecting our clients’ personal and financial information. This privacy statement addresses what nonpublic personal information we collect, what we do with it, and how we protect it.

2. How we protect information: We restrict access to any nonpublic personal information about you that we collect to those employees who need to know that information to provide products or services to you. We maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards that comply with federal regulations to guard your nonpublic personal information.

3. Where do we collect information from: We may collect and maintain nonpublic personal information in the course of providing you with the appraisal services you requested, including:

Information we receive from you on applications, letters of engagement, forms found on our web site, correspondence, or conversations, such as your name, address, telephone number and social security number.

Information about your transactions with us, our affiliates or others, including, but not limited to, payment history, parties to transactions and other financial information.

Information we receive from a consumer reporting agency such as a credit history.

4. What information we may disclose:

OPTION #1: We do not disclose nonpublic personal information about clients or former clients except as permitted by law. (If you select this option and you in fact don’t share information with anyone, then your form is done – if you share information as permitted under one of the exceptions, i.e., as permitted by law, then you will need to include that disclosure. See, for example part C(3) of the article on preparing a disclosure form.)

OPTION #2: We may disclose the nonpublic personal information about you described above, primarily to provide you with the appraisal services you seek from us.

5. Who we share information with: Unless you tell us not to, we may disclose nonpublic personal information of the type described above about you to the following types of third parties:

· Financial service providers as they pertain to your business, such as banks and lending institutions, estate planners, mortgage brokers, tax attorneys, etc.

· Non-financial companies as they pertain to your business, such as retailers, direct marketers, etc.

· We may also disclose nonpublic personal information about you to nonaffiliated third parties as permitted by law. (If you include this provision then you will also need to include another section identifying the types of nonaffiliated third parties to whom you are referring in this provision, See, for example part C(3) of the article on preparing a disclosure form.)

· You may limit information shared about you. If you prefer that we not disclose nonpublic personal information about you to third parties, you may opt out of those disclosures, that is, you may direct us not to make those disclosures (except those permitted by law). If you wish to opt out, please notify us in writing at the above address.