For honest and ethical appraisals, trust Godwin Property Solutions

We think of our job as a profession. Requirements to become a licensed appraiser have increased more than ever before. So it goes without question these days that real estate appraisal can certainly be considered a profession rather than a trade. In our field, as with any profession, we are bound by ethical considerations.

We have a great deal of obligations as appraisers but our chief duty is to our clients. Typically, in residential practice, the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal. Appraisers have rules and regulations they must follow, including keeping many matters private for their clients a homeowner, if you would like to obtain a copy of an appraisal report, you normally have to get it through your lender. Other responsibilities also include, numerical accuracy depending on the assignment's nature, acquiring and sustaining a certain level of competency and education, and of course, the appraiser must behave in a professional manner. Here at Godwin Property Solutions, we take these ethical responsibilities very seriously.

Appraisers can also have fiduciary obligations to third parties, such as homeowners, both sellers and buyers, or others. Those third parties normally are defined 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 things in the framework of the assignment.

Appraisers also have rules outside of boundaries of clients and others. For example, appraisers must keep their work files for a minimum of five years - something else Godwin Property Solutions takes very seriously.

We demand the highest professional integrity possible from ourselves. We don't do assignments on contingency fees. 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 professions biggest no-no, because it would tend to make appraisers raise the value of homes or properties to increase their fee. We don't do that. Other unprofessional practices may be established by state law or professional societies that the appraiser belongs.

The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) also defines 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 follow these rules to the letter which means you can be confident we are doing everything we can to objectively determine the home or property value.

When you engage Godwin Property Solutions we'll make sure you're getting the professional service you expect along with the an ethical approach with appraisals that we're known for.