For honest and ethical appraisals, trust The Warner Group

By and large, appraising a long term career. Requirements to become a licensed appraiser have increased more than ever before. That's why it goes without question these days that real estate appraisal can definitely be dubbed a profession as opposed to a trade. In our field, as with any profession, we have a strict ethical code.

We have a lot of obligations as appraisers but our main duty is to our clients. Normally, for a normal residential appraisal, the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal. Appraisers are privy to a lot of information, and like an attorney can only discuss many matters with their client. As a homeowner, if you desire a copy of the appraisal document, you should get it through your lender. Other responsibilities also include, numerical accuracy depending on the scope of the assignment, acquiring and keeping a particular level of competency and education, and of course, the appraiser must behave in a professional manner. Here at The Warner Group, we take these ethical responsibilities very seriously.

Appraisers can also have fiduciary responsibilities to third parties, such as homeowners, buyers and sellers, or others. Those third parties normally are defined in scope of the appraisal assignment itself. An appraiser's fiduciary roll is restricted to those third parties who the appraiser knows, based on the scope of work or other things in the framework of the order.

There are also ethical standards that have nothing to do with clients and others. For example, appraisers must be able to produce their work files for a minimum of five years - something else The Warner Group diligently adheres to.

The Warner Group holds itself to the industry standards and guidelines set in place for ethics. We refuse to 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 get paid only if the loan closes. Another practice that's restricted is doing assignments on percentage fees. That is perhaps the appraisal industries most important rule, because it would tend to make appraisers raise the value of homes or properties to increase their fee. We set ourselves to a higher standard. Other unprofessional 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 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 diligently follow these rules to the letter which means you can be at ease knowing we are going above and beyond to objectively determine the home or property value.

When you request an appraisal from The Warner Group we'll make sure you're getting the professional service you expect along with the ethical handling of appraisals that we're known for.