Northwoods Valuation LLC maintains the utmost professional ethicsBy and large, appraising a long term career. The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have increased more than ever before. That's why it goes without question these days that real estate appraisal can unquestionably be dubbed a profession rather than a trade. As with any profession we are bound by an ethical code. An appraiser's primary responsibility is to their client. Typically, in residential practice, the lender places the order to the appraiser, becoming the appraiser's client. Appraisers have rules and regulations they must follow, including keeping many matters private for their clients a homeowner, if you would like to review the appraisal document, you should get it through your lender. Other responsibilities also include, accurate calculations appropriate to the nature of the report, attaining and sustaining an appropriate level of competency and education, and the appraiser must conduct him or herself as a professional. Maintaining high ethics and client confidentiality is standard operating procedure for us at Northwoods Valuation LLC. ![]() Northwoods Valuation LLC has worked hard for its reputation for producing appraisals with the highest of ethics. To learn more Contact us Appraisers can also have fiduciary obligations to third parties, including homeowners, both buyers and sellers, or others. Typically the third parties are explicitly defined in the appraisal report. An appraiser's fiduciary duty is limited to those 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 standards that have nothing to do with clients and others. For example, appraisers must be able to produce their work files for at least five years - something else Northwoods Valuation LLC takes very seriously. We require the highest ethical standards possible from ourselves. Working on assignments that contingency fees is not something we can consider That is, we are not able to agree to do an appraisal report and get paid only if the loan closes. We can't do assignments on percentage fees. That is probably the appraisal industries biggest taboo, 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 established by state law or professional societies that the appraiser belongs. The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) also defines 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," in addition to other situations We follow these rules to the letter which means you can be confident we are going above and beyond to objectively determine the home or property value. As soon as you order an appraisal from Northwoods Valuation LLC we'll make sure you're getting the professional service you expect along with the ethical handling of appraisals that we're known for. |