J. Doyle Knight Appraiser provides honest and ethical appraisals for Knox County

For honest and ethical appraisals, rely on J. Doyle Knight Appraiser

By and large, appraising is a long term career. The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have increased more than ever before. That's why it goes without question in this day and age that real estate appraisal can unquestionably be considered a profession as opposed to a trade. In our field, as with any profession, we must follow strict ethical considerations.

We have a lot of obligations as appraisers, but our primary duty is to our clients. More often than not, for a normal residential appraisal, 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. Appraisers are typically limited to only disclosing information to their clients, so as a homeowner, if you desire a copy of the appraisal document, you normally should obtain it from your lender.

Other responsibilities include numerical accuracy depending on the assignment parameters, reaching and keeping a respectable level of competency and education, and of course, the appraiser must behave in a professional manner. Here at J. Doyle Knight Appraiser, we take these ethical responsibilities very to heart.

In some cases appraisers will have fiduciary responsibilities to third parties, including homeowners, both sellers and buyers, or others. Typically the third parties are specifically defined in the appraisal report. An appraiser's fiduciary responsibility is limited to those third parties who the appraiser is aware of, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the order.

J. Doyle Knight Appraiser has an established 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 whom we share information. For example, appraisers must keep their work files for at least five years - something else J. Doyle Knight Appraiser takes very seriously.

We require the highest professional integrity possible from ourselves. Doing assignments where our fee is dependent on our value conclusion is not something we can consider. That is, we can't 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 a greater value with the reward of getting paid more money! We set ourselves to a higher standard.

Finally, the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (or simply "USPAP") also 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" in addition to other situations We diligently follow these rules to the letter which means you can be assured we are working hard to objectively determine the home or property value.

With J. Doyle Knight Appraiser, you can be assured of 100 percent ethical, honest service.