Metro Appraisals provides honest and ethical appraisals for Collier County

For honest and ethical appraisals, trust Metro Appraisals

We think of our business as a profession. The rigors of becoming 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 definitely be dubbed a profession rather than a trade. As with any profession we must follow strict ethical considerations.

Appraisal Responsibilities


An appraiser's chief obligation is to their client. 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. Subsequently, appraisers are typically limited to only disclosing their findings to their clients, so as a homeowner, if you want to review the appraisal document, you generally have to obtain it via your lender and not the appraiser. 

Other responsibilities include numerical accuracy depending on the assignment parameters, attaining and maintaining a certain level of competency and education, and of course, the appraiser must behave in a professional manner. Here at Metro Appraisals, we take these ethical responsibilities very seriously.

Appraisers can sometimes have fiduciary responsibilities to third parties, including homeowners, buyers and sellers, or others. Those third parties normally are defined in scope of the appraisal assignment itself. An appraiser's fiduciary duty is restricted to those third parties who the appraiser knows, based on the scope of work or other things in the framework of the job.

Ethical Standards

There are also ethical standards that have nothing to do with clients and others. For example, appraisers must backup their work files for at least five years - something else Metro Appraisals makes a part of their standard routine.

When creating reports, we follow the highest ethical standards possible. Doing assignments based on contingency fees is not something we can consider. That means we don't agree to do an appraisal report and collect payment on the contingency of the loan closing. There's a definite conflict of interest if an appraiser can report a greater value and then get paid more money!

Finally, the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (or simply "USPAP") explicitly 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", 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 engage Metro Appraisals, we'll make sure you're getting the professional service you deserve along with the honesty and integrity we're known for.