RCA Appraisals provides honest and ethical appraisals for Volusia County

Honesty and Integrity: RCA Appraisals

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

The appraiser's primary responsibility is to their client. Most of the time, in residential practice, the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal, and often the appraisal is ordered by a third party the lender has brought in to maintain independence. It's important to know that a lot of matters relating to an assignment are to be discussed exclusively with the appraiser's client. So, as a homeowner, if you want to review the appraisal document, you generally should request it from your lender.

Other responsibilities include accurate sums appropriate to the parameters of the report, acquiring and maintaining an appropriate level of competency and education, and naturally, the appraiser must bear a professional demeanor. Here at RCA Appraisals, we take these ethical responsibilities very seriously.

Appraisers will often be obligated to consider the interests of third parties, including homeowners, sellers and buyers, or others. Generally the third parties are clearly defined in the appraisal report. An appraiser's fiduciary role is restricted to those third parties who the appraiser knows, based on the scope of work or other things in the framework of the assignment.


	RCA Appraisals has an established track record for completing competent and ethically superior appraisals. To learn more, contact us.

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

While working on an order, we follow the highest ethical standards possible. Accepting orders based on contingency fees is never an option. That means we can't agree to do an appraisal report and collect the fee only if the loan closes. It should be obvious that fabricating a property's value to achieve a higher fee is unethical!

Finally, the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (or simply "USPAP") 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" in addition to other situations We diligently follow these rules to the letter which means you can be confident we are working hard to get you an accurate home or property value.

As soon as you engage RCA Appraisals, we'll make sure you're getting the professional service you deserve along with the honesty and integrity we're known for.