River Valley Appraisals Inc maintains the utmost professional ethics

We think of our job as a profession. Requirements to become a licensed appraiser have become more difficult than ever before. So it goes without question these days that real estate appraisal can unquestionably be considered a profession rather than a trade. As with any profession we are bound by ethical considerations.

An appraiser's chief responsibility is to their client. Generally, in residential practice, the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal. Certain matters pertaining to an assignment can only be discussed with an appraiser's client. As a a homeowner, if you desire to review an appraisal report, you normally have to get it from your lender. Other responsibilities also include, accurate sums appropriate to the parameters of the report, reaching and maintaining a particular level of competency and education, and of course, the appraiser must behave in a professional manner. Here at River Valley Appraisals Inc, we take these ethical responsibilities very seriously.

Appraisers will often be obligated to consider the interests of third parties, including homeowners, both buyers and sellers, or others. Normally the third parties are specifically defined in the appraisal report. An appraiser's fiduciary roll is restricted to those third parties who the appraiser is aware of, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the assignment.

Appraisers also have rules outside of boundaries of with whom we share information For example, appraisers must store their work files for at least five years - at River Valley Appraisals Inc you can rest assured that we stick to that rule.

We meet or beat the industry standards and rules set in place for ethics. We refuse to accept anything less from ourselves. We never do assignments on contingency fees. That is, we are not able to agree to do an appraisal report and collect the fee only if the loan closes. We can't do assignments on percentage fees. That is probably the appraisal industries most important rule, because it would tend to make appraisers increase 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 organizations to which an appraiser belongs.

The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) also states a violation in ethics as 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," as well as other situations. We follow these rules to the letter which means you can rest easy knowing we are working hard to provide an unbiased determination of the home or property value.

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