For honest and ethical appraisals, trust Michigan Appraising

We consider our our business a profession. The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have increased more than ever before. So it goes without question in this day and age that real estate appraisal can definitely be called a profession as opposed to a trade. As with any profession we have a strict ethical code.

The appraiser's primary responsibility is to their client. Typically, for a standard residential appraisal, the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal. Appraisers are required to only disclosing information to their clients, and as a homeowner, if you require a copy of the appraisal document, you should obtain it from your lender. Other obligations also include, accurate figures appropriate to the scope of the assignment, reaching and keeping a certain level of competency and education, and of course, the appraiser must behave in a professional manner. Here at Michigan Appraising, we take these ethical responsibilities very seriously.

Appraisers can sometimes have fiduciary obligations 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 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 order.

Appraisers also have rules outside of boundaries of with whom we share information For example, appraisers must be able to produce their work files for at least five years - at Michigan Appraising you can rest assured that we abide by that rule.

We require the highest professional integrity possible from ourselves. Working on assignments that contingency fees is never an option. That is, we are not able to 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 most important rule, because it would tend to make appraisers raise the value of homes or properties to increase their fee. We don't do that. Other unethical practices may be established by state law or professional societies to which an appraiser belongs.

The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) also states 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 follow these rules to the letter which means you can be at ease knowing we are doing everything we can to provide an unbiased determination of the home or property value.

With Michigan Appraising, you can be assured of 100 percent ethical, professional service.