Honesty and Integrity: Martin Appraisal Company, Inc.

We consider our our business a profession. Requirements to become a licensed appraiser have increased more than ever in the past. So it goes without question these days that real estate appraisal can certainly be dubbed a profession rather than a trade. In our field, as with any profession, we must follow strict ethical considerations.

For an appraiser the chief responsibility is to their client. Most of the time, for a regular residential appraisal, 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 require to obtain a copy of the appraisal document, you should request it from your lender. Other responsibilities also include, accurate calculations appropriate to the scope of the assignment, attaining and keeping an appropriate level of competency and education, and of course, the appraiser must behave in a professional manner. Here at Martin Appraisal Company, Inc., we take these ethical responsibilities very seriously.

Appraisers may often have fiduciary obligations to third parties, such as homeowners, both sellers and buyers, or others. Those third parties normally are spelled out in the appraisal assignment itself. An appraiser's fiduciary duty is limited to those third parties who the appraiser knows, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the order.

There are also ethical standards that have nothing to do with whom we share information. For example, appraisers must backup their work files for at least five years - something else Martin Appraisal Company, Inc. makes a part of their standard routine.

Martin Appraisal Company, Inc. holds itself to the industry standards and rules set in place for ethics. We can't accept anything less from ourselves. Doing orders on 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 don't do assignments on percentage fees. That is perhaps the appraisal professions biggest no-no, because it would invite fraudulent practices since increasing the estimate of the home would inflate the their paycheck. We set ourselves to a higher standard. Other improper practices may be defined 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 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," in addition to other situations We diligently follow these rules to the letter which means you can be confident we are going above and beyond to provide an unbiased determination of the home or property value.

With Martin Appraisal Company, Inc., you won't have any doubts that you're getting 100 percent ethical, honest service.