Honesty and Integrity: DCHughes Appraisal Services

We consider our what we do a profession. Requirements to become a licensed appraiser have become more difficult than ever before. So it goes without question these days that real estate appraisal can unquestionably be called a profession as opposed to a trade. In our field, 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. More often than not, in residential practice, the lender places the order to the appraiser, becoming the appraiser's client. Appraisers are required to only disclosing information to their clients, and as a homeowner, if you desire to obtain a copy of an appraisal report, you should get it through your lender. Other obligations also include, accurate calculations appropriate to the nature of the assignment, attaining and keeping a certain level of competency and education, and of course, the appraiser must behave in a professional manner. Here at DCHughes Appraisal Services, we take these ethical responsibilities very seriously.

Appraisers will frequently need to consider the interests of third parties, such as homeowners, buyers and sellers, or others. Those third parties normally are listed in the appraisal assignment itself. An appraiser's fiduciary roll is only to those parties who the appraiser is aware of, based on the scope of work or other things in the framework of the order.

Appraisers also have standards outside of boundaries of clients and others. For example, appraisers must be able to produce their work files for a minimum of five years - at DCHughes Appraisal Services you can rest assured that we stick to that rule.

We demand the highest professional integrity possible from ourselves. Working on orders that 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. We can't do assignments on percentage fees. That is perhaps the appraisal professions most important rule, because it would invite fraudulent practices since increasing the value of the home would up the fee. We don't do that. Other improper 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 assured we are going above and beyond to objectively determine the home or property value.

With DCHughes Appraisal Services, you won't have any doubts that you're getting 100 percent ethical, honest service.