Honesty and Integrity: Mike Vogler Appraisals

We think of our job as a profession. The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have increased more than ever before. So it goes without question these days that real estate appraisal can unquestionably be dubbed a profession as opposed to a trade. As with any profession we must follow strict ethical considerations.

As appraisers our primary responsibility is to his or her client. Typically, for a regular residential appraisal, the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal. 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 a copy of an appraisal report, you generally have to get it from your lender. Other responsibilities also include, numerical accuracy depending on the scope of the assignment, attaining and sustaining an appropriate level of competency and education, and the appraiser must conduct him or herself as a professional. Here at Mike Vogler Appraisals, we take these ethical responsibilities very to heart.

Appraisers can regularly have fiduciary responsibilities to third parties, including homeowners, buyers and sellers, or others. Those third parties normally are spelled out in scope of the appraisal assignment itself. An appraiser's fiduciary roll is restricted to those parties who the appraiser is aware of, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the order.

There are also ethical rules that have nothing to do with whom we share information. For example, appraisers must backup their work files for at least five years - at Mike Vogler Appraisals you can rest assured that we abide by that rule.

Mike Vogler Appraisals holds itself to the industry standards and rules set in place for ethics. We won't accept anything less from ourselves. Working on assignments that contingency fees is never an option. That is, we don't agree to do an appraisal report and collect payment on the contingency of the loan closing. We don't do assignments on percentage fees. That is probably the appraisal industries most important rule, because it would tend to make appraisers up the value of homes or properties to increase their fee. We don't do that. 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 defines 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," in addition to other situations We diligently follow these rules to the letter which means you can be at ease knowing we are going above and beyond to provide an unbiased determination of the home or property value.

As soon as you engage Mike Vogler Appraisals 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.