For honest and ethical appraisals, count on Dennis Lindstrom - Appraiser

Generally, 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 called a profession as opposed to a trade. In our field, as with any profession, we are bound by ethical considerations.

An appraiser's main responsibility is to his or her client. Typically, in residential practice, the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal. Appraisers have certain duties of privacy to their clients, and as a homeowner, if you want to obtain a copy of the appraisal document, you should request it through your lender. Other responsibilities also include, numerical accuracy depending on the assignment's nature, reaching and keeping a certain level of competency and education, and of course, the appraiser must behave in a professional manner. Maintaining high ethics and client confidentiality is just normal course of business for us at Dennis Lindstrom - Appraiser.

Appraisers will frequently be required to consider the interests of third parties, including homeowners, buyers and sellers, or others. Generally the third parties are explicitly defined in the appraisal report. An appraiser's fiduciary duty is restricted to those parties who the appraiser knows, based on the scope of work or other things in the framework of the order.

Appraisers also have duties outside of boundaries of clients and others. For example, appraisers must backup their work files for at least five years - something else Dennis Lindstrom - Appraiser takes very seriously.

We require the highest professional integrity possible from ourselves. Working on assignments that contingency fees is never an option. That is, we are not able to agree to do an appraisal report and get paid only if the loan closes. We don't do assignments on percentage fees. That is perhaps the appraisal industries most important rule, because it would invite appraisal fraud since increasing the value of the home would raise the their paycheck. We don't do that. Other improper 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," as well as other situations. We diligently follow these rules to the letter which means you can rest easy knowing we are going above and beyond to provide an unbiased determination of the home or property value.

When you request an appraisal from Dennis Lindstrom - Appraiser we'll make sure you're getting the professional service you expect along with the ethical handling of appraisals that we're known for.