For honest and ethical appraisals, trust Schau Appraisals Inc.

We consider our our job a profession. The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have become more difficult than ever in the past. So it goes without question these days that real estate appraisal can definitely be called a profession as opposed to a trade. As with any profession we are bound by ethical considerations.

We have many responsibilities as appraisers but first and foremost we answer to our clients. Typically, in residential practice, the lender places the order to the appraiser, becoming the appraiser's client. Appraisers are privy to a lot of information, and like an attorney can only discuss many matters with their client. As a homeowner, if you would like to review the appraisal document, you generally have to request it through your lender. Other obligations also include, numerical accuracy depending on the scope of the assignment, reaching and sustaining a particular level of competency and education, and the appraiser must conduct him or herself as a professional. Maintaining high ethics is standard operating procedure for us at Schau Appraisals Inc..

Appraisers can often have fiduciary obligations to third parties, such as homeowners, both sellers and buyers, or others. Those third parties normally are defined in scope of the appraisal assignment itself. An appraiser's fiduciary responsibility is only to those parties who the appraiser is aware of, based on the scope of work or other things in the framework of the assignment.

Appraisers also have standards outside of boundaries of with whom we share information For example, appraisers must keep their work files for at least five years - something else Schau Appraisals Inc. takes very seriously.

We meet or beat the industry standards and guidelines set in place for professional behavior. We can't accept anything less from ourselves. Doing assignments on contingency fees is never an option. That is, we are not able to agree to do an appraisal report and collect payment on the contingency of the loan closing. We don't do assignments on percentage fees. That is perhaps the appraisal professions most important rule, because it would tend to make appraisers increase the value of homes or properties to increase their fee. We set ourselves to a higher standard. Other unprofessional practices may be established by state law or professional organizations to which an appraiser belongs.

The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) also 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," "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 Schau Appraisals Inc., you can be assured of 100 percent ethical, honest service.