Brinkman Appraisal Services maintains the utmost professional ethics

We consider our our job a profession. The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have become more difficult than ever before. So it goes without question in this day and age that real estate appraisal can certainly be dubbed a profession as opposed to a trade. As with any profession we are bound by an ethical code.

For an appraiser the chief responsibility is to their client. Typically, for a normal residential appraisal, the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal. Appraisers are required to only disclosing information to their clients, and as a homeowner, if you require a copy of an appraisal report, you should obtain it from your lender. Other obligations also include, accurate sums appropriate to the nature of the assignment, attaining and maintaining a certain level of competency and education, and the appraiser must conduct him or herself as a professional. Here at Brinkman Appraisal Services, we take these ethical responsibilities very to heart.

Appraisers may also have fiduciary obligations to third parties, including homeowners, both sellers and buyers, or others. Normally the third parties are specifically defined in the appraisal report. An appraiser's fiduciary roll is only to those 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 backup their work files for at least five years - something else Brinkman Appraisal Services diligently adheres to.

We meet or beat the industry standards and rules 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 can't agree to do an appraisal report and get paid only if the loan closes. Another practice that's restricted is doing 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 inflate the fee. We don't do that. Other improper practices may be established by state law or professional societies 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 assured we are doing everything we can to provide an unbiased determination of the home or property value.

With Brinkman Appraisal Services, you can be assured of 100 percent ethical, honest service.