For honest and ethical appraisals, rely on Cynthia Martin

Appraising is typically a long term career. The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have become more difficult than ever in the past. That's why it goes without question in this day and age that real estate appraisal can definitely be dubbed a profession as opposed to a trade. As with any profession we have a strict ethical code.

We have a great deal of responsibilities as appraisers but our chief duty is to our clients. Typically, in residential practice, the lender places the order to the appraiser, becoming the appraiser's client. Appraisers are privy to a lot of data, and like an attorney can only discuss many matters with their client. As a homeowner, if you would like to obtain a copy of an appraisal report, you generally have to obtain it from your lender. Other responsibilities also include, numerical accuracy depending on the assignment's nature, acquiring and maintaining a certain level of competency and education, and of course, the appraiser must behave in a professional manner. Maintaining high ethics is standard operating procedure for us at Cynthia Martin.

Appraisers may frequently have fiduciary obligations to third parties, such as homeowners, both buyers and sellers, or others. Typically the third parties are clearly defined in the appraisal report. An appraiser's fiduciary roll is only to those third parties who the appraiser is aware of, based on the scope of work or other things in the framework of the assignment.

Appraisers also have duties outside of boundaries of clients and others. For example, appraisers must store their work files for at least five years - at Cynthia Martin you can rest assured that we abide by that rule.

Cynthia Martin holds itself to the industry standards and rules set in place for ethics. We refuse to accept anything less from ourselves. Working on assignments 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. Another practice that's restricted is doing assignments on percentage fees. That is perhaps the appraisal professions most important rule, because it would invite fraudulent practices since increasing the estimate of the home would inflate the their paycheck. We don't do that. Other unprofessional practices may be defined by state law or professional societies that the appraiser belongs.

The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) also states a violation in ethics 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 assured we are doing everything we can to objectively determine the home or property value.

When you request an appraisal from Cynthia Martin we'll make sure you're getting the professional service you expect along with the an ethical approach with appraisals that we're known for.