JSM Appraisal Services provides honest and ethical appraisals for Rensselaer County

For honest and ethical appraisals, count on JSM Appraisal Services

Appraising is, by and large, a long term career. 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 considered a profession rather than a trade. In our field, as with any profession, we must follow strict ethical considerations.

An appraiser's chief obligation is to their client. More often than not, for a normal residential appraisal, the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal, and often the appraisal is ordered by a third party the lender has hired in order to maintain independence. Certain matters relating to an assignment are to be discussed with the appraiser's client. So, as a homeowner, if you would like a copy of the appraisal document, you normally should obtain it through your lender instead of the appraiser.

Other obligations include numerical accuracy depending on the assignment parameters, attaining and keeping an appropriate level of competency and education, and the appraiser must conduct him or herself as a professional. Here at JSM Appraisal Services, we take these ethical responsibilities very seriously.

There are some scenarios in which appraisers will have fiduciary responsibilities to third parties, such as homeowners, both buyers and sellers, or others. Generally the third parties are clearly 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 order.


	JSM Appraisal Services has worked hard for its track record for producing appraisals with the highest of ethics. To learn more, contact us.

Appraisers also have duties outside of boundaries of clients and others. For example, appraisers must be able to produce their work files for at least five years - at JSM Appraisal Services you can rest assured that we abide by that rule.

We require the highest ethical standards possible from ourselves. Doing orders 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 base our pay upon coming up with a particular value conclusion. It should be obvious that fabricating a home's value to achieve essentially a bigger fee is unethical! This isn't how we operate.

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" in addition to other situations We diligently follow these rules to the letter which means you can be at ease knowing we are working hard to get you an accurate home or property value.

As soon as you order an appraisal from JSM Appraisal Services, we'll make sure you're getting the professional service you deserve along with the business principles we're known for.