Steven Kittle Appraisals provides honest and ethical appraisals for Greene County

Honesty and Integrity: Steven Kittle Appraisals

Appraising is typically a long term career. The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have become more difficult than ever before. That's why it goes without question these days that real estate appraisal can definitely be called a profession as opposed to a trade. As with any profession we must follow strict ethical considerations.

An appraiser's main obligation is to their client. Typically, for a normal residential appraisal, the lender (or an agent of the lender) places the order to the appraiser, becoming the appraiser's client. It's important to know that certain details relating to an assignment are to be discussed exclusively with the appraiser's client. As a homeowner, if you want a copy of the appraisal document, you generally should request it from your lender instead of the appraiser.

Other responsibilities include numerical accuracy depending on the assignment parameters, attaining and sustaining a particular level of competency and education, and naturally, the appraiser must bear a professional demeanor. Here at Steven Kittle Appraisals, we take these ethical responsibilities very seriously.

Appraisers will sometimes need to consider the interests of third parties, including homeowners, buyers and sellers, or others. Typically the third parties are clearly defined in the appraisal report. An appraiser's fiduciary duty is limited to those parties who the appraiser knows, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the order.

Steven Kittle Appraisals has worked hard for its reputation for performing competent and ethically superior appraisals. To learn more, contact us.


There are also ethical duties that have nothing to do with whom we share information. For example, appraisers must backup their work files for a minimum of five years - at Steven Kittle Appraisals you can rest assured that we stick to that rule.

We require the highest professional integrity possible from ourselves. Doing orders based on contingency fees is never an option. That means we don't agree to do an appraisal report and get paid only if the loan closes. There's a definite conflict of interest if an appraiser can report a larger value and then get paid more money! This isn't how we operate.

Finally, the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice clearly describes 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 follow these rules to the letter which means you can be assured we are going above and beyond to get you an accurate home or property value.

With Steven Kittle Appraisals, you won't have any doubts that you're getting 100 percent ethical, professional service.