An appraiser's main obligation is to their client. Typically, in residential practice, the lender (or an agent of the lender) places the order to the appraiser, becoming the appraiser's client.  It's important to know that many elements relating to an assignment are to be discussed with the appraiser's client.  So, as a homeowner, if you desire to obtain a copy of an appraisal report, you generally should request it through your lender instead of the appraiser.

Other obligations include numerical accuracy depending on the assignment parameters, reaching and maintaining an adequate level of competency and education, and the appraiser must conduct him or herself as a professional.  Maintaining high ethics and client confidentiality is just the normal course of business for us at Bobkat Appraisal Services.

There are some scenarios in which appraisers will have fiduciary responsibilities to third parties, such as homeowners, both sellers and buyers, or others. Generally, the third parties are explicitly defined in the appraisal report.  An appraiser's fiduciary duty is limited to those parties who the appraiser is aware of, based on the scope of work or other things in the framework of the order.

	Bobkat Appraisal Services has worked hard for its track record for providing appraisals with the highest of ethics.  Contact us today to learn more.

Appraisers also have rules outside of boundaries of clients and others.  For example, appraisers must back up their work files for at least five years - something else Bobkat Appraisal Services makes a part of their standard routine.

When creating reports, we follow the highest ethical standards possible.  Working on orders based on contingency fees is not something we can consider.  In other words, we don't agree to do an appraisal report and collect the fee only if the loan closes.  There's certainly a conflict of interest if an appraiser can report an unsubstantiated value and then get paid more money.  This isn't how we operate!

Finally, the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (or simply "USPAP") also describes 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," or "the amount of a value opinion" as well as other situations.  We follow these rules to the letter which means you can be confident we are doing everything we can to provide an unbiased determination of the home or property value.

As soon as you engage Bobkat Appraisal Services, we'll make sure you're getting the professional service you deserve along with the high ethical standards we're known for.