Honesty and Integrity: Karapet Krtikashyan

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

For an appraiser the primary obligation is to his or her client. Typically, in residential practice, 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 would like to review an appraisal report, you should get it through your lender. Other responsibilities also include, accurate calculations appropriate to the parameters of the assignment, acquiring and sustaining a certain level of competency and education, and of course, the appraiser must behave in a professional manner. Here at Karapet Krtikashyan, we take these ethical responsibilities very seriously.

Appraisers will sometimes be required to consider the interests of third parties, such as homeowners, sellers and buyers, or others. Normally the third parties are clearly defined in the appraisal report. An appraiser's fiduciary duty is restricted to those third parties who the appraiser is aware of, based on the scope of work or other things in the framework of the assignment.

There are also ethical duties that have nothing to do with clients and others. For example, appraisers must keep their work files for at least five years - at Karapet Krtikashyan you can rest assured that we abide by that rule.

We meet or beat the industry standards and mandates set in place for professional behavior. We can't accept anything less from ourselves. We never do assignments on contingency fees. That is, we can't agree to do an appraisal report and collect payment on the contingency of the loan closing. We can't do assignments on percentage fees. That is perhaps 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 don't do that. Other unprofessional practices may be defined by state law or professional organizations to which an appraiser belongs.

The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) also defines unethical behavior 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," as well as other situations. We follow these rules to the letter which means you can be assured we are working hard to provide an unbiased determination of the home or property value.

With Karapet Krtikashyan, you can be assured of 100 percent ethical, honest service.