Jennifer Galloway Appraisals maintains the utmost professional ethics

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. As with any profession we have a strict ethical code.

We have a great deal of responsibilities as appraisers but first and foremost we answer to our clients. Most of the time, 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 would like to review the appraisal document, you should get it from your lender. Other obligations also include, accurate calculations appropriate to the parameters of the assignment, reaching and keeping an adequate level of competency and education, and of course, the appraiser must behave in a professional manner. Maintaining high ethics is is what we do everyday at Jennifer Galloway Appraisals.

Appraisers will sometimes be required to consider the interests of third parties, including homeowners, both buyers and sellers, or others. Those third parties normally are listed in scope of the appraisal assignment itself. An appraiser's fiduciary roll is only to those third parties who the appraiser knows, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the assignment.

Appraisers also have duties outside of boundaries of clients and others. For example, appraisers must backup their work files for at least five years - something else Jennifer Galloway Appraisals makes a part of their standard routine.

When creating reports, we follow the highest ethical standards possible. Doing assignments on contingency fees is not something we can consider That is, we can't agree to do an appraisal report and collect payment on the contingency of the loan closing. Another practice that's restricted is doing assignments on percentage fees. That is probably the appraisal industries biggest taboo, because it would invite appraisal fraud since increasing the value of the home would increase the fee. We set ourselves to a higher standard. Other unprofessional practices may be defined by state law or professional organizations to which an appraiser belongs.

The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) also states a violation in ethics as 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," as well as other situations. We diligently follow these rules to the letter which means you can be at ease knowing we are doing everything we can to objectively determine the home or property value.

With Jennifer Galloway Appraisals, you won't have any doubts that you're receiving 100 percent ethical, honest service.