For honest and ethical practices, count on LaPlante Appraisals

Appraising is a profession, and appraisers are professionals. The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have evolved over the past several years, however, have not compromised the integrity of the profession. Appraisers go through a background check every few years, in addition to holding a bachelor's degree and training under another professional for 1.5-2 years. Needless to say, it's a profession not just a job. As with any profession we must follow strict ethical considerations.

We have a great deal of responsibilities as appraisers, but our main duty is to our clients. Generally, for a regular residential appraisal, the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal. Certain matters pertaining to an assignment can only be discussed with an appraiser's client. As a homeowner, if you would like to obtain a copy of an appraisal report, you should obtain it from your lender. Other obligations also include, numerical accuracy depending on the scope of the assignment, reaching and sustaining a certain level of competency and education, and the appraiser must conduct him or herself as a professional. Here at LaPlante Appraisals, we take these ethical responsibilities very seriously.

Appraisers can also have fiduciary obligations to third parties, such as homeowners, both buyers and sellers, or others. Generally, the third parties are explicitly defined in the appraisal report. An appraiser's fiduciary roll is restricted to those third parties who the appraiser knows, based on the scope of work or other things in the framework of the assignment.

There are also ethical rules that have nothing to do with clients and others. For example, appraisers must backup their work files for at least five years - something else LaPlante Appraisals takes very seriously.

We require the highest professional integrity possible from ourselves. Doing assignments on contingency fees is not something we 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 probably the appraisal professions biggest taboo, because it would invite appraisal fraud since raising the value of the home would inflate the fee. We pride ourselves in being unbiased and looking at the assignment as serious--as we know it's a very important life decision for the owners and borrowers of the property. 

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," as well as other situations. We follow these rules to the letter which means you can rest easy knowing we are working hard to provide an unbiased determination of the home or property value.

With LaPlante Appraisals, you won't have any doubts that you're getting 100 percent ethical, honest service.