For honest and ethical appraisals, rely on Piotrowski Appraisal LLC

Appraising is a profession, and appraisers are professionals. Requirements to become a licensed appraiser have increased more than ever in the past. So it goes without question these days that real estate appraisal can definitely be dubbed a profession as opposed to a trade. As with any profession we have a strict ethical code.

We have quite a few obligations as appraisers but our main duty is to our clients. More often than not, in residential practice, the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal. Appraisers are privy to a lot of information, and like an attorney can only discuss many matters with their client. As a homeowner, if you require to obtain a copy of the appraisal document, you normally have to request it from your lender. Other obligations also include, numerical accuracy depending on the assignment's nature, reaching and sustaining an appropriate level of competency and education, and the appraiser must conduct him or herself as a professional. Here at Piotrowski Appraisal LLC, we take these ethical responsibilities very to heart.

Appraisers may regularly have fiduciary responsibilities to third parties, including homeowners, buyers and sellers, or others. Normally the third parties are explicitly defined in the appraisal report. An appraiser's fiduciary responsibility is restricted to those third parties who the appraiser knows, based on the scope of work or other things in the framework of the job.

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 - at Piotrowski Appraisal LLC you can rest assured that we abide by that rule.

Piotrowski Appraisal LLC holds itself to the industry standards and rules set in place for ethics. We refuse to accept anything less from ourselves. We never do assignments on contingency fees. That is, we can'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 industries most important rule, because it would invite fraudulent practices since raising the value of the home would raise the fee. We set ourselves to a higher standard. 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 states 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," as well as other situations. We follow these rules to the letter which means you can be at ease knowing we are going above and beyond to provide an unbiased determination of the home or property value.

With Piotrowski Appraisal LLC, you can be assured of 100 percent ethical, professional service.