Appraiser Ethics
Appraisal is a profession, and appraisers are professionals. In our field as with any profession we are bound by ethical considerations.

An appraiser's primary responsibility is to his or her client. The client should be identified in the report and can be the owner, a buyer or a third party such as a lender or insurance company.  Often, in residential practice, the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal to decide whether to make the mortgage loan.  Appraisers have certain duties of confidentiality to their clients -- as a homeowner, if you want a copy of an appraisal report, you normally have to request it through your lender -- obligations of numerical and factual accuracy depending on the assignment parameters, an obligation to attain and maintain a certain level of competency and education, and must generally conduct him or herself as a professional.  Here at Whitworth Appraisals, we take these ethical responsibilities very seriously.

Appraisers may also have fiduciary obligations to third parties, such as homeowners, both buyers and sellers, or others.  Those third parties normally are spelled out as "Intended User(s)" in the appraisal assignment itself. An appraiser's fiduciary duty is limited to the client(s) and those third parties (intended users) whom the appraiser knows and names in the report, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the assignment.

There are ethical rules that have nothing to do with clients and others.  For example, appraisers must keep their work files for a minimum of five years. 

Whitworth Appraisals only performs to the highest ethical standards possible.  We don't do assignments on contingency fees.  That is, we don't agree to do an appraisal report and get paid only if the loan closes.  We don't do assignments on percentage fees.  This is probably the appraisal profession’s biggest no-no, because it would tend to make appraisers inflate the value of homes or properties to increase their paycheck.  We don't do that. We treat our  all of our clients fairly and ethically. Other unethical practices may be defined by state law or professional societies to which an appraiser belongs. We believe in and follow these laws, rules and ethics.

The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) also defines as unethical 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," and other things.  This means you can be assured we are working to objectively determine the home or property value.

You can be assured we at Whitworth Appraisals will provide 100 percent ethical, fair and professional service. We do what's right.