Honesty and Integrity: Romakk Appraisals (305) 776-1643

Appraising is a profession, and appraisers are professionals. 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 definitely be called a profession as opposed to a trade. In our field, as with any profession, we have a strict ethical code.

We have quite a few responsibilities as appraisers but our main duty is to our clients. More often than not, in residential practice, the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal. Appraisers have certain duties of privacy to their clients, and as a homeowner, if you would like to review the appraisal document, you should obtain it through your lender. Other obligations also include, numerical accuracy depending on the assignment's nature, acquiring and keeping a certain level of competency and education, and the appraiser must conduct him or herself as a professional. Maintaining high ethics and client confidentiality is is what we do everyday at Romakk Appraisals (305) 776-1643.

Appraisers will frequently be required to consider the interests of third parties, such as homeowners, both buyers and sellers, or others. Typically the third parties are clearly defined in the appraisal report. An appraiser's fiduciary roll is limited to those third parties who the appraiser is aware of, based on the scope of work or other things in the framework of the assignment.

There are also ethical standards that have nothing to do with clients and others. For example, appraisers must backup their work files for a minimum of five years - at Romakk Appraisals (305) 776-1643 you can rest assured that we adhere to that rule.

We require the highest professional integrity possible from ourselves. We don't do assignments on contingency fees. That is, we can't agree to do an appraisal report and collect the fee only if the loan closes. Another practice that's restricted is doing assignments on percentage fees. That is probably the appraisal industries biggest no-no, because it would tend to make appraisers inflate the value of homes or properties to increase their fee. We don't do that. Other improper practices may be established by state law or professional societies that the appraiser belongs.

The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) also states unethical behavior 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 engage Romakk Appraisals (305) 776-1643 we'll make sure you're getting the professional service you expect along with the ethical handling of appraisals that we're known for.