Signature Appraisals provides honest and ethical appraisals for Brunswick County

Signature Appraisals maintains the highest professional ethics

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

The appraiser's primary obligation is to their client. Typically, in residential practice, the lender (or an agent of the lender) places the order to the appraiser, becoming the appraiser's client. Appraisers have certain duties of confidentiality to their clients, plus strict rules and regulations controlling with whom we share information. As a homeowner, if you desire to obtain a copy of the appraisal document, you generally should get it through your lender and not the appraiser.

Other responsibilities include numerical accuracy depending on the assignment parameters, 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 what we do every day at Signature Appraisals.

Appraisers will sometimes be required to consider the interests of third parties, such as homeowners, both sellers and buyers, or others. Typically the third parties are clearly defined in the appraisal report. An appraiser's fiduciary responsibility is limited to those parties who the appraiser knows, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the job.


	Signature Appraisals has worked hard for its track record for performing competent and ethically superior appraisals. Contact us today to learn more.

There are also ethical rules that have nothing to do with whom we share information. For example, appraisers must keep their work files for a minimum of five years - at Signature Appraisals you can rest assured that we abide by that rule.

We require the highest ethical standards possible from ourselves. Doing assignments where our fee is dependent on our value conclusion is never an option. That means we can't agree to do an appraisal report and collect the fee only if the loan closes. There's a definite conflict of interest if an appraiser can report a larger value with the reward of getting paid more money! We set ourselves to a higher standard.

Finally, the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (or simply "USPAP") clearly states 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" as well as other situations. We follow these rules to the letter which means you can be confident we are working hard to objectively determine the home or property value.

With Signature Appraisals, you won't have any doubts that you're getting 100 percent ethical, professional service.