Honesty and Integrity: Chris Circuit

We consider our our job a profession. Requirements to become a licensed appraiser have become more difficult than ever in the past. So it goes without question these days that real estate appraisal can certainly be considered a profession rather than a trade. As with any profession we are bound by ethical considerations.

As appraisers our main obligation is to their client. Typically, for a standard residential appraisal, the lender places the order to the appraiser, becoming the appraiser's client. Appraisers are required to only disclosing information to their clients, and as a homeowner, if you want a copy of an appraisal report, you should obtain it through your lender. Other responsibilities also include, numerical accuracy depending on the assignment's nature, attaining and sustaining an appropriate level of competency and education, and the appraiser must conduct him or herself as a professional. Here at Chris Circuit, we take these ethical responsibilities very seriously.

Appraisers will regularly be obligated to consider the interests of third parties, such as homeowners, both buyers and sellers, or others. Those third parties normally are listed in scope of the appraisal assignment itself. An appraiser's fiduciary duty 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.

Appraisers also have rules outside of boundaries of with whom we share information For example, appraisers must backup their work files for at least five years - at Chris Circuit you can rest assured that we adhere to that rule.

Chris Circuit holds itself to the industry standards and guidelines set in place for ethics. We won't accept anything less from ourselves. Working on orders that contingency fees is not something we can consider That is, we are not able to 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 biggest no-no, because it would invite appraisal fraud since increasing the estimate of the home would raise 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," in addition to other situations We diligently follow these rules to the letter which means you can be assured we are working hard to objectively determine the home or property value.

With Chris Circuit, you can be assured of 100 percent ethical, professional service.