Kues Bros. Appraisals Ltd. maintains the highest professional ethics

By and large, appraising a long term career. The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have become more difficult than ever before. So it goes without question these days that real estate appraisal can certainly be considered 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 primary duty is to our clients. Generally, 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 require to review the appraisal document, you should get it from your lender. Other responsibilities also include, numerical accuracy depending on the assignment's nature, reaching and maintaining a particular level of competency and education, and of course, the appraiser must behave in a professional manner. Here at Kues Bros. Appraisals Ltd., we take these ethical responsibilities very to heart.

There are some scenarios in which appraisers will have fiduciary responsibilities to third parties, such as homeowners, both buyers and sellers, or others. Those third parties normally are listed in the appraisal assignment itself. An appraiser's fiduciary responsibility is restricted to those parties who the appraiser is aware of, based on the scope of work or other things in the framework of the job.

There are also ethical standards that have nothing to do with clients and others. For example, appraisers must be able to produce their work files for a minimum of five years - something else Kues Bros. Appraisals Ltd. takes very seriously.

We meet or beat the industry standards and rules set in place for professional behavior. We refuse to accept anything less from ourselves. Working on orders that contingency fees is never an option. That is, we don't agree to do an appraisal report and get paid only if the loan closes. We can't do assignments on percentage fees. That is probably the appraisal professions most important rule, because it would invite appraisal fraud since raising the value of the home would increase the fee. We set ourselves to a higher standard. Other unethical practices may be defined by state law or professional societies that the appraiser belongs.

The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) also defines unethical behavior 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 rest easy knowing we are working hard to objectively determine the home or property value.

With Kues Bros. Appraisals Ltd., you can be assured of 100 percent ethical, honest service.