Christopher Calzavara upholds the highest professional ethics

We consider our our job a profession. Requirements to become a licensed appraiser have become more difficult than ever before. So it goes without question in this day and age that real estate appraisal can unquestionably be dubbed a profession rather than a trade. As with any profession we have a strict ethical code.

For an appraiser the primary obligation is to their client. Typically, for a normal residential appraisal, the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal. 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 obtain a copy of an appraisal report, you generally have to get it through your lender. Other responsibilities also include, accurate figures appropriate to the parameters of the report, acquiring and maintaining an appropriate level of competency and education, and the appraiser must conduct him or herself as a professional. Here at Christopher Calzavara, we take these ethical responsibilities very seriously.

There are some scenarios in which appraisers will have fiduciary responsibilities to third parties, including homeowners, both sellers and buyers, or others. Normally the third parties are specifically defined in the appraisal report. An appraiser's fiduciary responsibility is only to those parties who the appraiser knows, based on the scope of work or other things in the framework of the order.

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

We meet or beat the industry standards and guidelines set in place for ethics. We won't accept anything less from ourselves. We don't do assignments on contingency fees. That is, we are not able to agree to do an appraisal report and get paid only if the loan closes. We don't do assignments on percentage fees. That is probably the appraisal professions most important rule, because it would tend to make appraisers inflate the value of homes or properties to increase their paycheck. We set ourselves to a higher standard. Other unethical practices may be established by state law or professional societies to which an appraiser belongs.

The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) also 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," "the amount of a value opinion," as well as other situations. We diligently follow these rules to the letter which means you can be at ease knowing we are doing everything we can to objectively determine the home or property value.

With Christopher Calzavara, you won't have any doubts that you're receiving 100 percent ethical, professional service.