Valley Appraisal Services provides honest and ethical appraisals for Hidalgo County

Valley Appraisal Services upholds the highest professional ethics

Generally, appraising is a long term career. 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 unquestionably be considered a profession as opposed to a trade. As with any profession we are bound by an ethical code.

The appraiser's primary responsibility is to their client. More often than not, in residential practice, the lender (or an agent of the lender) places the order to the appraiser, becoming the appraiser's client. Subsequently, appraisers are typically restricted to only disclosing information to their clients, so as a homeowner, if you want to obtain a copy of an appraisal report, you normally should request it through your lender.

Other responsibilities include numerical accuracy depending on the assignment parameters, acquiring and keeping an adequate level of competency and education, and of course, the appraiser must behave in a professional manner. Here at Valley Appraisal Services, we take these ethical responsibilities very seriously.

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


	Valley Appraisal Services has worked hard for its reputation for performing appraisals with the highest of ethics. Contact us today to learn more.

There are also ethical rules that have nothing to do with clients and others. For example, appraisers must keep their work files for a minimum of five years - something else Valley Appraisal Services makes a part of their standard routine.

We demand the highest ethical standards possible from ourselves. Doing orders where our fee is dependent on our value conclusion is never an option. In other words, we don't agree to do an appraisal report and base our pay upon coming up with a particular value conclusion. There's certainly a conflict of interest if an appraiser can report a greater value with the reward of getting paid more money! We set ourselves to a higher standard.

Finally, the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice clearly states 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", or "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.

As soon as you order an appraisal from Valley Appraisal Services, we'll make sure you're getting the professional service you deserve along with the business principles we're known for.