Honesty and Integrity: Lee Eaton Enterprises

We think of what we do as a profession. The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have become more difficult than ever in the past. That's why it goes without question these days that real estate appraisal can certainly be considered a profession rather than a trade. As with any profession we must follow strict ethical considerations.

For an appraiser the main obligation is to their client. Typically, for a regular residential appraisal, the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal. Appraisers are privy to a lot of data, and like an attorney can only discuss many matters with their client. As a homeowner, if you desire a copy of the appraisal document, you should obtain it from your lender. Other responsibilities also include, accurate calculations appropriate to the parameters of the assignment, acquiring and keeping a certain level of competency and education, and of course, the appraiser must behave in a professional manner. Here at Lee Eaton Enterprises, we take these ethical responsibilities very to heart.

Appraisers will often need to consider the interests of third parties, including homeowners, both buyers and sellers, or others. Those third parties normally are listed in scope of the appraisal assignment itself. An appraiser's fiduciary responsibility is limited to those third parties who the appraiser is aware of, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the job.

Appraisers also have standards outside of boundaries of with whom we share information For example, appraisers must store their work files for at least five years - at Lee Eaton Enterprises you can rest assured that we adhere to that rule.

We demand the highest ethical standards possible from ourselves. We don't do assignments on contingency fees. That is, we can't 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 industries most important rule, because it would invite appraisal fraud since increasing the estimate of the home would inflate the their paycheck. We set ourselves to a higher standard. Other unprofessional practices may be established by state law or professional organizations to which an appraiser belongs.

The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) also states a violation in ethics as the acceptance 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," in addition to other situations We diligently follow these rules to the letter which means you can be confident we are doing everything we can to provide an unbiased determination of the home or property value.

As soon as you engage Lee Eaton Enterprises we'll make sure you're getting the professional service you expect along with the ethical handling of appraisals that we're known for.