Appraisal Associates of Lancaster, Inc. provides honest and ethical appraisals for Lancaster County

Honesty and Integrity: Appraisal Associates of Lancaster, Inc.

We consider our job as a profession. Requirements to become 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 certainly be dubbed a profession as opposed to a trade. As with any profession we have a strict ethical code.

We have a lot of responsibilities as appraisers, but first and foremost we answer to our clients. Typically, in residential practice, the lender (or an agent of the lender) places the order to the appraiser, becoming the appraiser's client. Certain elements pertaining to an assignment are to be discussed exclusively with the appraiser's client. As a homeowner, if you would like a copy of an appraisal report, you normally should request it through your lender instead of the appraiser.

Other responsibilities include accurate figures appropriate to the nature of the report, reaching and keeping a certain level of competency and education, and of course, the appraiser must behave in a professional manner. Here at Appraisal Associates of Lancaster, Inc., we take these ethical responsibilities very seriously.

Appraisers will often need to consider the interests of third parties, including homeowners, sellers and buyers, or others. Typically the third parties are specifically defined in the appraisal report. An appraiser's fiduciary duty is restricted to those third parties who the appraiser is aware of, based on the scope of work or other things in the framework of the job.


	Appraisal Associates of Lancaster, Inc. has worked hard for its reputation for performing competent and ethically superior appraisals. To learn more, contact us.

Appraisers also have duties outside of boundaries of clients and others. For example, appraisers must be able to produce their work files for at least five years - at Appraisal Associates of Lancaster, Inc. you can rest assured that we stick to that rule.

We meet or exceed the industry standards and mandates set in place for professional behavior. We won't accept anything less from ourselves. Doing orders where our fee is dependent on our value conclusion is not something we can consider. In other words, we are not able to agree to do an appraisal report and collect the fee only if the loan closes. It should be apparent to anyone that fabricating a property's value to achieve a bigger fee is unethical! We just don't do it.

Finally, the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (or simply "USPAP") also defines unethical behavior 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", or "the amount of a value opinion" as well as other situations. We diligently follow these rules to the letter which means you can be at ease knowing we are working hard to provide an unbiased determination of the home or property value.

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