Honesty and Integrity: Denlinger Appraisal Associates

Appraising is typically a long term career. The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have become more difficult than ever before. That's why it goes without question these days that real estate appraisal can certainly be called a profession as opposed to a trade. As with any profession we have a strict ethical code.

We have quite a few responsibilities as appraisers but our primary duty is to our clients. More often than not, in residential practice, the lender places the order to the appraiser, becoming the appraiser's client. Appraisers have certain duties of privacy to their clients, and as a homeowner, if you require a copy of an appraisal report, you normally have to obtain it from your lender. Other responsibilities also include, numerical accuracy depending on the assignment parameters, attaining and sustaining an adequate level of competency and education, and of course, the appraiser must behave in a professional manner. Maintaining high ethics and client confidentiality is just normal course of business for us at Denlinger Appraisal Associates.

Appraisers may also have fiduciary responsibilities to third parties, including homeowners, buyers and sellers, or others. Typically the third parties are clearly defined in the appraisal report. An appraiser's fiduciary duty is limited to those parties who the appraiser knows, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the job.

Appraisers also have standards outside of boundaries of clients and others. For example, appraisers must be able to produce their work files for at least five years - something else Denlinger Appraisal Associates makes a part of their standard routine.

When creating reports, we follow the highest ethical standards possible. Doing orders on contingency fees is not something we can consider That is, we don't 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 taboo, because it would tend to make appraisers increase the value of homes or properties to increase their paycheck. 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 defines 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 working hard to objectively determine the home or property value.

With Denlinger Appraisal Associates, you won't have any doubts that you're receiving 100 percent ethical, professional service.