Honesty and Integrity: Germantown Trust & Savings

Generally, appraising a long term career. The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have become more difficult than ever in the past. So it goes without question in this day and age that real estate appraisal can certainly be considered a profession rather than a trade. As with any profession we must follow strict ethical considerations.

As appraisers our chief obligation is to his or her client. Most of the time, in residential practice, the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal. Certain matters pertaining to an assignment can only be discussed with an appraiser's client. As a a homeowner, if you would like to review the appraisal document, you normally have to get it from your lender. Other obligations also include, accurate sums appropriate to the nature of the report, reaching and sustaining a respectable level of competency and education, and of course, the appraiser must behave in a professional manner. Maintaining high ethics and client confidentiality is is what we do everyday at Germantown Trust & Savings.

In some cases appraisers will have fiduciary responsibilities to third parties, including homeowners, both buyers and sellers, or others. Those third parties normally are defined in scope of the appraisal assignment itself. An appraiser's fiduciary duty is limited to those third parties who the appraiser is aware of, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the job.

There are also ethical standards that have nothing to do with clients and others. For example, appraisers must backup their work files for a minimum of five years - something else Germantown Trust & Savings makes a part of their standard routine.

Germantown Trust & Savings holds itself to the industry standards and rules set in place for professional behavior. We refuse to accept anything less from ourselves. We never do assignments on contingency fees. That is, we are not able to agree to do an appraisal report and get paid only if the loan closes. We can't do assignments on percentage fees. That is probably the appraisal professions biggest no-no, because it would tend to make appraisers inflate the value of homes or properties to increase their paycheck. We set ourselves to a higher standard. Other unethical practices may be established by state law or professional societies that the appraiser belongs.

The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) also defines unethical behavior 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," in addition to other situations We follow these rules to the letter which means you can be assured we are doing everything we can to objectively determine the home or property value.

When you engage Germantown Trust & Savings 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.