Honesty and Integrity: Lighthouse Appraisal Service

Appraising is a profession, and appraisers are professionals. The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have increased more than ever before. That's why it goes without question in this day and age that real estate appraisal can definitely be called a profession rather than a trade. As with any profession we are bound by ethical considerations.

We have quite a few obligations as appraisers but our main duty is to our clients. Normally, in residential practice, the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal. Certain matters pertaining to an assignment can only be discussed with an appraiser's client. As a a homeowner, if you require to review an appraisal report, you should get it from your lender. Other responsibilities also include, accurate calculations appropriate to the parameters of the report, attaining and keeping an appropriate level of competency and education, and of course, the appraiser must behave in a professional manner. Here at Lighthouse Appraisal Service, we take these ethical responsibilities very seriously.

Lighthouse Appraisal Service provides honest and ethical appraisals for Chelan County

Lighthouse Appraisal Service has an established track record for producing competent and ethically superior appraisals. Contact us today to learn more.

In some cases appraisers will have fiduciary responsibilities to third parties, including homeowners, buyers and sellers, or others. Those third parties normally are defined in the appraisal assignment itself. An appraiser's fiduciary roll is limited to those parties who the appraiser knows, based on the scope of work or other things in the framework of the order.

Appraisers also have rules outside of boundaries of clients and others. For example, appraisers must keep their work files for at least five years - at Lighthouse Appraisal Service you can rest assured that we abide by that rule.

We demand the highest professional integrity 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 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 fraudulent practices since raising the value of the home would up the fee. We don't do that. Other unprofessional 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," in addition to 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.

As soon as you request an appraisal from Lighthouse 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.