Appraisal Specialist of Iowa, LLC provides honest and ethical appraisals for Polk County

Honesty and Integrity: Appraisal Specialists of Iowa, LLC

Appraising is a profession, and appraisers are professionals. Requirements to become a licensed appraiser have increased more than ever in the past. That's why it goes without question in this day and age that real estate appraisal can unquestionably be called a profession rather than a trade. In our field, as with any profession, we have a strict ethical code.

We have quite a few obligations as appraisers, but first and foremost we answer to our clients. Generally, for a normal residential appraisal, the lender (or an agent of the lender) places the order to the appraiser, becoming the appraiser's client. Certain details pertaining to an assignment are to be shared exclusively with the appraiser's client. So, as a homeowner, if you desire a copy of an appraisal report, you generally have to get it via your lender and not the appraiser.

Other obligations include accurate calculations appropriate to the parameters of the assignment, acquiring and sustaining a particular level of competency and education, and of course, the appraiser must behave in a professional manner. Maintaining high ethics is standard operating procedure for us at Appraisal Specialists of Iowa, LLC.

Appraisers will sometimes be obligated to consider the interests of third parties, including homeowners, sellers and buyers, or others. Those third parties normally are defined in scope of the appraisal assignment itself. An appraiser's fiduciary duty is only to those parties who the appraiser knows, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the order.

Appraisal Specialists of Iowa, LLC has worked hard for its track record for producing competent and ethically superior appraisals. Contact us today to learn more.


Appraisers also have rules outside of boundaries of with whom we share information For example, appraisers must be able to produce their work files for at least five years - at Appraisal Specialists of Iowa, LLC you can rest assured that we abide by that rule.

When working on an assignment, we follow the highest ethical standards possible. Working on orders where our fee is dependent on our value conclusion is not something we can consider. That means we can't agree to do an appraisal report and base our pay upon coming up with a particular value conclusion. There's a definite conflict of interest if an appraiser can report a greater value with the reward of getting paid more money! We just don't do it.

Finally, the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (or simply "USPAP") 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 assured we are working hard to get you an accurate home or property value.

When you order an appraisal from Appraisal Specialists of Iowa, LLC, we'll make sure you're getting the professional service you expect along with the principles we're known for.