Honesty and Integrity: Oxford Home Valuations

Appraising is generally 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 definitely be dubbed a profession rather than a trade. As with any profession we must follow strict ethical considerations.

The appraiser's main obligation is to their client. Generally, for a regular residential appraisal, the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal. Appraisers have rules and regulations they must follow, including confidentiality for their clients a homeowner, if you want a copy of an appraisal report, you normally have to get it from your lender. Other obligations also include, accurate calculations appropriate to the parameters of the report, attaining and sustaining an adequate level of competency and education, and of course, the appraiser must behave in a professional manner. Here at Oxford Home Valuations, we take these ethical responsibilities very to heart.

Appraisers may frequently have fiduciary obligations to third parties, including homeowners, both buyers and sellers, or others. Generally the third parties are specifically 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 written parameters of the job.

Appraisers also have rules outside of boundaries of with whom we share information For example, appraisers must be able to produce their work files for at least five years - at Oxford Home Valuations you can rest assured that we adhere to that rule.

We meet or beat the industry standards and mandates set in place for ethics. We refuse to accept anything less from ourselves. Doing orders on contingency fees is not something we can consider That is, we can't agree to do an appraisal report and collect the fee only if the loan closes. We can'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 fee. We don't do that. Other improper practices may be established by state law or professional organizations that the appraiser belongs.

The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) also defines unethical behavior 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," in addition to other situations We 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 Oxford Home Valuations, you can be assured of 100 percent ethical, honest service.