Honesty and Integrity: James Valdez Appraisal Service

Appraising is a profession, and appraisers are professionals. The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have increased more than ever in the past. That's why it goes without question in this day and age that real estate appraisal can certainly be considered a profession as opposed to a trade. In our field, as with any profession, we must follow strict ethical considerations.

We have quite a few obligations as appraisers but above everything we answer to our clients. Typically, for a regular residential appraisal, the lender places the order to the appraiser, becoming the appraiser's client. 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 want a copy of an appraisal report, you should obtain it through your lender. Other responsibilities also include, numerical accuracy depending on the scope of the assignment, acquiring and sustaining a respectable level of competency and education, and of course, the appraiser must behave in a professional manner. Maintaining high ethics is is what we do everyday at James Valdez Appraisal Service.

Appraisers will regularly need to consider the interests of third parties, including homeowners, both buyers and sellers, or others. Those third parties normally are listed in the appraisal assignment itself. An appraiser's fiduciary duty is only to those third parties who the appraiser is aware of, based on the scope of work or other things in the framework of the assignment.

Appraisers also have duties outside of boundaries of with whom we share information For example, appraisers must be able to produce their work files for a minimum of five years - something else James Valdez Appraisal Service diligently adheres to.

When creating reports, we follow the highest ethical standards possible. Working on assignments that 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 don't do assignments on percentage fees. That is perhaps the appraisal industries most important rule, because it would invite fraudulent practices since increasing the estimate of the home would inflate the their paycheck. We don't do that. Other improper practices may be established by state law or professional societies 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 diligently follow these rules to the letter which means you can be assured we are working hard to provide an unbiased determination of the home or property value.

As soon as you engage James Valdez Appraisal Service we'll make sure you're getting the professional service you expect along with the an ethical approach with appraisals that we're known for.