Pamela Evans maintains the highest professional ethics
The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have become more difficult than ever in the past. So it goes without question in this day and age that real estate appraisal can unquestionably be called a profession rather than a trade. As with any profession we have a strict ethical code.
An appraiser’s chief responsibility is to their client. Generally, 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. Consequently, appraisers are privy to a lot of information, and like an attorney, can only discuss many of these matters with their client.
Confidentiality is important. Your report, whether it’s in regards to your spouse’s (partner’s) passing, or mediating a divorce its confidential. Your information is confidential…and will not be shared without your personal expressed permission.
Areas of Expertise: Los Angeles County, Ventura County, Woodland Hills, Camarillo, Tarzana, Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Van Nuys, Reseda, Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Universal City
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Other responsibilities include accurate sums appropriate to the nature of the assignment, attaining and maintaining a particular level of competency and education, and the appraiser must conduct him or herself as a professional. Maintaining high ethics and client confidentiality is standard operating procedure for us at Pamela Evans.
Appraisers can also have fiduciary obligations to third parties, including homeowners, sellers and buyers, or others. Those third parties normally are listed in scope of the appraisal assignment itself. An appraiser’s fiduciary duty is limited to those parties who the appraiser is aware of, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the order.
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Appraisers also have standards outside of boundaries of clients and others. For example, appraisers must store their work files for at least five years – something else Pamela Evans diligently adheres to.
We demand the highest professional integrity possible from ourselves. Doing orders where our fee is dependent on our value conclusion is not something we can consider. That means we are not able to 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 property’s value to achieve a higher fee is unethical! We just don’t do it.
Finally, the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice explicitly 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 follow these rules to the letter which means you can be at ease knowing we are working hard to provide an unbiased determination of the home or property value.
When you engage Pamela Evans, we’ll make sure you’re getting the professional service you deserve along with the high ethical standards we’re known for.