For honest and ethical appraisals, count on Birkholz Appraisal

We think of our business as a profession. The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have become more difficult than ever in the past. So it goes without question these days that real estate appraisal can unquestionably be dubbed a profession rather than 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 chief duty is to our clients. More often than not, for a regular 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 want to obtain a copy of an appraisal report, you normally have to request it through your lender. Other responsibilities also include, numerical accuracy depending on the assignment's nature, reaching and maintaining a certain level of competency and education, and the appraiser must conduct him or herself as a professional. Here at Birkholz Appraisal, we take these ethical responsibilities very to heart.

Appraisers can also have fiduciary obligations to third parties, such as homeowners, buyers and sellers, or others. Normally the third parties are specifically defined in the appraisal report. An appraiser's fiduciary duty is restricted 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.

There are also ethical duties 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 - at Birkholz Appraisal you can rest assured that we adhere to that rule.

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 can'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 probably the appraisal professions biggest no-no, because it would invite appraisal fraud since increasing the estimate of the home would up the their paycheck. We set ourselves to a higher standard. Other unprofessional practices may be established by state law or professional societies that the 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 doing everything we can to provide an unbiased determination of the home or property value.

When you engage Birkholz Appraisal 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.