Honesty and Integrity: The Davidson Company

We think of what we do as a profession. The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have increased more than ever in the past. So it goes without question in this day and age that real estate appraisal can unquestionably be called a profession rather than a trade. As with any profession we have a strict ethical code.

An appraiser's primary obligation is to his or her client. Generally, in residential practice, the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal. Appraisers have certain duties of privacy to their clients, and as a homeowner, if you want to review the appraisal document, you should request it through your lender. Other obligations also include, numerical accuracy depending on the assignment's nature, reaching and sustaining a particular level of competency and education, and of course, the appraiser must behave in a professional manner. Here at The Davidson Company, we take these ethical responsibilities very to heart.

Appraisers may regularly have fiduciary responsibilities to third parties, including homeowners, sellers and buyers, or others. Those third parties normally are listed in scope of the appraisal assignment itself. An appraiser's fiduciary responsibility is only to those third parties who the appraiser knows, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the job.

Appraisers also have duties outside of boundaries of with whom we share information For example, appraisers must backup their work files for a minimum of five years - at The Davidson Company you can rest assured that we adhere to that rule.

We meet or beat the industry standards and guidelines set in place for professional behavior. We can't accept anything less from ourselves. Doing orders on contingency fees is not something we can consider 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 professions biggest taboo, because it would invite fraudulent practices since increasing the estimate of the home would inflate the fee. We set ourselves to a higher standard. 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 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," as well as other situations. We follow these rules to the letter which means you can be assured we are working hard to provide an unbiased determination of the home or property value.

As soon as you engage The Davidson Company 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.