Honesty and Integrity: J Group Residential Appraising Services

An appraiser's primary obligation is to their client. Typically, for a regular residential appraisal, the lender (or an agent of the lender) places the order to the appraiser, becoming the appraiser's client. Appraisers are typically restricted to only disclosing information to their clients, so as a homeowner, if you want to review the appraisal document, you generally should get it from your lender instead of the appraiser.

Other obligations include accurate sums appropriate to the nature of the assignment, acquiring and keeping a respectable level of competency and education, and naturally, the appraiser must bear a professional demeanor. Here at J Group Residential Appraising Services, we take these ethical responsibilities very to heart.

In some cases appraisers will have fiduciary responsibilities to third parties, including homeowners, both buyers and sellers, or others. Generally the third parties are explicitly defined in the appraisal report. An appraiser's fiduciary responsibility is only to those third parties who the appraiser is aware of, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the job.

	J Group Residential Appraising Services has an established track record for providing appraisals with the highest of ethics. To learn more, contact us.

There are also ethical duties that have nothing to do with whom we share information. For example, appraisers must backup their work files for a minimum of five years - something else J Group Residential Appraising Services makes a part of their standard routine.

We meet or exceed the industry standards and rules set in place for ethics. We refuse to accept anything less from ourselves. Doing assignments where our fee is dependent on our value conclusion is not something we can consider. That means we don't agree to do an appraisal report and collect the fee only if the loan closes. Anyone should be able to see that fabricating a home's value to achieve what amounts to a higher fee is unethical! We just don't do it.

Finally, the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (or simply "USPAP") also states 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", or "the amount of a value opinion" in addition to other situations We follow these rules to the letter which means you can be assured we are going above and beyond to objectively determine the home or property value.

When you engage J Group Residential Appraising Services, we'll make sure you're getting the professional service you expect along with the honesty and integrity we're known for.