Legg Appraisals maintains the highest professional ethics

Typically, appraising a long term career. The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have become more difficult than ever before. That's why it goes without question in this day and age 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.

We have a great deal of obligations as appraisers but our chief duty is to our clients. Normally, 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 require to obtain a copy of an appraisal report, you generally have to request it through your lender. Other responsibilities also include, numerical accuracy depending on the assignment's nature, attaining and maintaining a particular level of competency and education, and of course, the appraiser must behave in a professional manner. Here at Legg Appraisals, we take these ethical responsibilities very seriously.

Appraisers will sometimes be obligated to consider the interests of third parties, such as homeowners, both sellers and buyers, or others. Generally the third parties are explicitly defined in the appraisal report. An appraiser's fiduciary responsibility is limited to those third parties who the appraiser is aware of, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the job.

There are also ethical standards that have nothing to do with whom we share information. For example, appraisers must backup their work files for a minimum of five years - at Legg Appraisals you can rest assured that we adhere to that rule.

We require the highest professional integrity possible from ourselves. Working on orders that contingency fees is not something we can consider That is, we don't agree to do an appraisal report and collect payment on the contingency of the loan closing. We can't do assignments on percentage fees. That is perhaps the appraisal industries biggest taboo, because it would tend to make appraisers inflate the value of homes or properties to increase their fee. We set ourselves to a higher standard. Other unprofessional practices may be defined by state law or professional organizations to which an appraiser belongs.

The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) also states 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," as well as other situations. We follow these rules to the letter which means you can be confident we are working hard to objectively determine the home or property value.

With Legg Appraisals, you can be assured of 100 percent ethical, professional service.