Honesty and Integrity: Nine31 Appraisal Services LLC

Appraising is a profession, and appraisers are professionals. Requirements to become a licensed appraiser have become more difficult than ever before. That's why it goes without question these days that real estate appraisal can unquestionably be considered a profession as opposed to a trade. As with any profession we are bound by an ethical code.

We have a great deal of responsibilities as appraisers but our main duty is to our clients. Generally, for a typical residential appraisal, 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 a copy of the appraisal document, you should obtain it through your lender. Other obligations also include, accurate sums appropriate to the parameters of the report, reaching and sustaining 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 Nine31 Appraisal Services LLC.

Appraisers may also have fiduciary responsibilities to third parties, including homeowners, both buyers and sellers, or others. Generally the third parties are clearly defined in the appraisal report. An appraiser's fiduciary roll is limited to those 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 with whom we share information For example, appraisers must be able to produce their work files for at least five years - at Nine31 Appraisal Services LLC you can rest assured that we stick to that rule.

When creating reports, we follow the highest ethical standards possible. We don't do assignments on contingency fees. That is, we don'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 taboo, because it would invite fraudulent practices since raising the value of the home would up the fee. We set ourselves to a higher standard. Other unprofessional practices may be established by state law or professional organizations that the 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," in addition to other situations We diligently follow these rules to the letter which means you can rest easy knowing we are working hard to provide an unbiased determination of the home or property value.

With Nine31 Appraisal Services LLC, you can be assured of 100 percent ethical, honest service.