Honesty and Integrity: Cadence Way Appraisal Services LLC

Appraising is a profession, and appraisers are professionals. The rigors of becoming 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 called a profession as opposed to a trade. As with any profession we are bound by an ethical code.

We have quite a few responsibilities as appraisers but our primary duty is to our clients. Most of the time, in residential practice, the lender places the order to the appraiser, becoming the appraiser's client. Certain matters pertaining to an assignment can only be discussed with an appraiser's client. As a a homeowner, if you require a copy of the appraisal document, you should obtain it through your lender. Other responsibilities also include, accurate figures appropriate to the scope of the report, reaching and maintaining an adequate level of competency and education, and the appraiser must conduct him or herself as a professional. Here at Cadence Way Appraisal Services LLC, we take these ethical responsibilities very to heart.

Appraisers may also have fiduciary responsibilities to third parties, such as homeowners, sellers and buyers, or others. Those third parties normally are defined in the appraisal assignment itself. An appraiser's fiduciary responsibility is restricted to those third parties who the appraiser knows, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the job.

Appraisers also have rules outside of boundaries of clients and others. For example, appraisers must backup their work files for at least five years - something else Cadence Way Appraisal Services LLC makes a part of their standard routine.

We demand the highest professional integrity possible from ourselves. Doing orders on contingency fees is never an option. That is, we are not able to agree to do an appraisal report and collect the fee only if the loan closes. We don't do assignments on percentage fees. That is probably the appraisal industries most important rule, because it would tend to make appraisers inflate the value of homes or properties to increase their fee. We set ourselves to a higher standard. Other unprofessional practices may be defined by state law or professional organizations that the 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," as well as other situations. We follow these rules to the letter which means you can be confident we are working hard to objectively determine the home or property value.

As soon as you order an appraisal from Cadence Way Appraisal Services 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.