Cooney Appraisal Services provides honest and ethical appraisals for Cuyahoga County

For honest and ethical appraisals, count on Cooney Appraisal Services

Appraising is a profession, and appraisers are professionals. The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have increased more than ever before. So it goes without question in this day and age that real estate appraisal can unquestionably be considered a profession as opposed to a trade. As with any profession we are bound by an ethical code.

An appraiser's main responsibility is to their client. Most of the time, for a normal residential appraisal, the lender (or an agent of the lender) places the order to the appraiser, becoming the appraiser's client. Thereon, appraisers have certain duties of privacy to their clients, plus strict rules and regulations to which we must adhere. So, as a homeowner, if you desire to review the appraisal document, you generally should request it through your lender instead of the appraiser.

Other responsibilities include accurate sums appropriate to the nature of the assignment, reaching and maintaining a particular level of competency and education, and the appraiser must conduct him or herself as a professional. Here at Cooney Appraisal Services, we take these ethical responsibilities very to heart.

Appraisers will sometimes be obligated to consider the interests of third parties, including homeowners, both buyers and sellers, or others. Those third parties normally are spelled out in scope of the appraisal assignment itself. An appraiser's fiduciary responsibility is limited to those parties who the appraiser is aware of, based on the scope of work or other things in the framework of the order.


	Cooney Appraisal Services has worked hard for its reputation for providing appraisals with the highest of ethics. To learn more, contact us.

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

We meet or exceed the industry standards and guidelines set in place for ethics. We won't accept anything less from ourselves. Accepting assignments where our fee is dependent on our value conclusion 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. It should be obvious that fabricating a home's value to achieve essentially a higher fee is unethical!

Finally, the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice explicitly states 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", or "the amount of a value opinion" as well as other situations. We diligently follow these rules to the letter which means you can rest easy knowing we are doing everything we can to objectively determine the home or property value.

With Cooney Appraisal Services, you won't have any doubts that you're receiving 100 percent ethical, professional service.