Chesapeake Real Estate Appraisals, Inc provides honest and ethical appraisals for Baltimore County

For honest and ethical appraisals, rely on Chesapeake Real Estate Appraisals, Inc

Typically, appraising is a long term career. The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have increased more than ever in the past. So it goes without question in this day and age that real estate appraisal can unquestionably be dubbed a profession as opposed to a trade. As with any profession we must follow strict ethical considerations.

The appraiser's main obligation is to their client. Typically, in residential practice, the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal, and often the appraisal is ordered by a third party the lender has retained to maintain independence. Consequently, appraisers are privy to a lot of data, and like an attorney, can only discuss many of these matters with their client. As a homeowner, if you want a copy of the appraisal document, you generally have to get it via your lender and not the appraiser.

Other responsibilities include accurate sums appropriate to the scope of the report, acquiring and maintaining an appropriate level of competency and education, and the appraiser must conduct him or herself as a professional. Here at Chesapeake Real Estate Appraisals, Inc, we take these ethical responsibilities very seriously.

There are some scenarios in which appraisers will have fiduciary responsibilities to third parties, including homeowners, sellers and buyers, or others. Those third parties normally are defined in scope of the appraisal assignment itself. An appraiser's fiduciary responsibility is restricted to those third parties who the appraiser knows, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the job.

Chesapeake Real Estate Appraisals, Inc has worked hard for its track record for providing competent and ethically superior appraisals. To learn more, contact us.


There are also ethical duties that have nothing to do with clients and others. For example, appraisers must store their work files for a minimum of five years - something else Chesapeake Real Estate Appraisals, Inc takes very seriously.

We demand the highest ethical standards possible from ourselves. Accepting assignments where our fee is dependent on our value conclusion is not something we can consider. In other words, we can'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 an unsubstantiated value and then get paid more money! We just don't do it.

Finally, the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (or simply "USPAP") clearly describes 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 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.

With Chesapeake Real Estate Appraisals, Inc, you won't have any doubts that you're receiving 100 percent ethical, professional service.