DuBose Appraisal Service provides honest and ethical appraisals for Washington County

Honesty and Integrity: DuBose Appraisal Service

We think of what we do as a profession. The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have increased more than ever in the past. That's why it goes without question in this day and age that real estate appraisal can definitely be dubbed a profession rather than a trade. In our field, as with any profession, we have a strict ethical code.

We have many obligations as appraisers, but above everything we answer to our clients. Typically, for a regular residential appraisal, the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal, and often the appraisal is ordered by a third party the lender has hired in order to maintain independence. Consequently, appraisers have certain duties of privacy to their clients, plus many rules and regulations that must be followed. So, as a homeowner, if you desire to obtain a copy of an appraisal report, you generally should get it from your lender.

Other responsibilities include accurate sums appropriate to the nature of the assignment, acquiring and maintaining a certain level of competency and education, and of course, the appraiser must behave in a professional manner. Maintaining high ethics is standard operating procedure for us at DuBose Appraisal Service.

Appraisers may also have fiduciary obligations to third parties, such as homeowners, both buyers and sellers, or others. Normally the third parties are specifically defined in the appraisal report. An appraiser's fiduciary responsibility is only to those parties who the appraiser is aware of, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the order.


	DuBose Appraisal Service has worked hard for its track record for providing competent and ethically superior appraisals. To learn more, contact us.

Appraisers also have duties outside of boundaries of with whom we share information For example, appraisers must store their work files for at least five years - something else DuBose Appraisal Service makes a part of their standard routine.

We demand the highest professional integrity possible from ourselves. Doing assignments based on contingency fees is never an option. That means we don't agree to do an appraisal report and get paid only if the loan closes. There's an obvious conflict of interest if an appraiser can report a larger value and then get paid more money! We set ourselves to a higher standard.

Finally, the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (or simply "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", or "the amount of a value opinion" in addition to other situations We follow these rules to the letter which means you can be confident we are going above and beyond to objectively determine the home or property value.

As soon as you order an appraisal from DuBose Appraisal Service, we'll make sure you're getting the professional service you deserve along with the high ethical standards we're known for.