Thomas Realty provides honest and ethical appraisals for Dodge County

For honest and ethical appraisals, count on Thomas Realty

Appraising is a profession, and appraisers are professionals. The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have increased more than ever before. So it goes without question these days that real estate appraisal can certainly be called a profession as opposed to a trade. As with any profession we must follow strict ethical considerations.

The appraiser's main obligation 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. Consequently, appraisers have certain duties of confidentiality to their clients, plus many rules and regulations controlling with whom we share information. As a homeowner, if you desire to obtain a copy of the appraisal document, you normally should get it from your lender and not the appraiser.

Other obligations include numerical accuracy depending on the assignment's nature, acquiring and keeping a respectable level of competency and education, and the appraiser must conduct him or herself as a professional. Here at Thomas Realty, we take these ethical responsibilities very to heart.

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


	Thomas Realty has an established track record for performing appraisals with the highest of ethics. Contact us today to learn more.

Appraisers also have duties outside of boundaries of clients and others. For example, appraisers must store their work files for at least five years - at Thomas Realty you can rest assured that we abide by that rule.

We require the highest professional integrity possible from ourselves. Doing orders based on contingency fees is never an option. In other words, we are not able to agree to do an appraisal report and collect payment on the contingency of the loan closing. There's a definite conflict of interest if an appraiser can report a greater value with the reward of getting paid more money!

Finally, the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice clearly states 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", 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 going above and beyond to get you an accurate home or property value.

With Thomas Realty, you can be assured of 100 percent ethical, honest service.