For honest and ethical appraisals, trust Louis Shepherd, MBA

We think of our job as a profession. 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 considered a profession rather than a trade. As with any profession we must follow strict ethical considerations.

We have a lot of responsibilities as appraisers but first and foremost we answer to our clients. Most of the time, for a standard 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 a homeowner, if you desire a copy of an appraisal report, you normally have to get it through your lender. Other responsibilities also include, numerical accuracy depending on the scope of the assignment, attaining and sustaining a certain level of competency and education, and the appraiser must conduct him or herself as a professional. Maintaining high ethics and client confidentiality is just normal course of business for us at Louis Shepherd, MBA.

Louis Shepherd, MBA provides honest and ethical appraisals for Seminole County

Louis Shepherd, MBA has an established reputation for performing appraisals with the highest of ethics. To learn more Contact us

Appraisers can sometimes have fiduciary obligations to third parties, including homeowners, both sellers and buyers, or others. Those third parties normally are spelled out in scope of the appraisal assignment itself. An appraiser's fiduciary duty 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.

Appraisers also have rules outside of boundaries of clients and others. For example, appraisers must keep their work files for at least five years - at Louis Shepherd, MBA you can rest assured that we abide by that rule.

Louis Shepherd, MBA holds itself to the industry standards and mandates set in place for professional behavior. We can't accept anything less from ourselves. We never do assignments on contingency fees. That is, we can't agree to do an appraisal report and collect the fee only if the loan closes. Another practice that's restricted is doing assignments on percentage fees. That is perhaps the appraisal professions biggest taboo, because it would invite appraisal fraud since raising the value of the home would increase the their paycheck. 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 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," "the amount of a value opinion," as well as other situations. We diligently follow these rules to the letter which means you can be confident we are doing everything we can to objectively determine the home or property value.

As soon as you order an appraisal from Louis Shepherd, MBA we'll make sure you're getting the professional service you expect along with the ethical handling of appraisals that we're known for.