Western Maine Appraisal Services provides honest and ethical appraisals for Oxford County

Honesty and Integrity: Western Maine Appraisal Services

Appraising is, by and large, a long term career. The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have increased more than ever in the past. 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.

The appraiser's main responsibility is to their client. Typically, for a regular residential appraisal, the lender (or an agent of the lender) places the order to the appraiser, becoming the appraiser's client. Subsequently, appraisers have certain duties of confidentiality 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 normally have to get it via your lender.

Other responsibilities include accurate sums appropriate to the parameters of the assignment, reaching and maintaining an adequate level of competency and education, and of course, the appraiser must behave in a professional manner. Here at Western Maine Appraisal Services, we take these ethical responsibilities very seriously.

Appraisers can also have fiduciary obligations to third parties, such as homeowners, buyers and sellers, or others. Those third parties normally are defined in the appraisal assignment itself. An appraiser's fiduciary responsibility is restricted to those third parties who the appraiser knows, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the order.


	Western Maine Appraisal Services has an established reputation for performing appraisals with the highest of ethics. Contact us today to learn more.

Appraisers also have standards outside of boundaries of with whom we share information For example, appraisers must be able to produce their work files for a minimum of five years - something else Western Maine Appraisal Services takes very seriously.

We demand the highest professional integrity possible from ourselves. Accepting orders based on contingency fees is not something we can consider. That means we don't agree to do an appraisal report and collect payment on the contingency of the loan closing. There's certainly a conflict of interest if an appraiser can report a greater value with the reward of getting paid more money! We set ourselves to a higher standard.

Finally, the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice clearly defines a violation in ethics 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", 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 confident we are working hard to objectively determine the home or property value.

With Western Maine Appraisal Services, you can be assured of 100 percent ethical, professional service.