Murphy Appraisal provides honest and ethical appraisals for Duval County

Honesty and Integrity: Murphy Appraisal

Appraising is a profession, and appraisers are professionals. The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have increased more than ever in the past. That's why it goes without question these days that real estate appraisal can certainly be dubbed a profession rather than a trade. As with any profession we have a strict ethical code.

We have a lot of obligations as appraisers, but above everything we answer to our clients. Typically, in residential practice, the lender (or an agent of the lender) places the order to the appraiser, becoming the appraiser's client. Thereon, appraisers are privy to a lot of information, and like an attorney, can only discuss many of these matters with their client. As a homeowner, if you would like to review an appraisal report, you generally have to request it via your lender.

Other obligations include accurate figures appropriate to the scope of the assignment, acquiring and keeping a particular level of competency and education, and the appraiser must conduct him or herself as a professional. Maintaining high ethics and client confidentiality is what we do every day at Murphy Appraisal.

In some cases 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 restricted to those parties who the appraiser is aware of, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the assignment.


	Murphy Appraisal has worked hard for its track record for producing competent and ethically superior appraisals. Contact us today to learn more.

There are also ethical rules that have nothing to do with clients and others. For example, appraisers must store their work files for at least five years - something else Murphy Appraisal diligently adheres to.

We demand the highest ethical standards possible from ourselves. Accepting orders based on contingency fees is not something we can consider. In other words, we are not able to agree to do an appraisal report and collect the fee only if the loan closes. There's an obvious conflict of interest if an appraiser can report an unsubstantiated value and then get paid more money! We just don't do it.

Finally, the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice explicitly 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", or "the amount of a value opinion" as well as other situations. We diligently follow these rules to the letter which means you can be assured we are going above and beyond to provide an unbiased determination of the home or property value.

When you engage Murphy Appraisal, we'll make sure you're getting the professional service you expect along with the high ethical standards we're known for.