Question:

I received an appraisal order that says: “If you can't appraise the property for $XXX,000, you must not accept the appraisal assignment.”  How should I respond to this appraisal order?

Response:

Accepting such an assignment would violate the Management section of the ETHICS RULE, which states, in part:

It is unethical for an appraiser to accept an assignment, or to have a compensation arrangement for an assignment, that is contingent on any of the following:

1. the reporting of a predetermined result (e.g., opinion of value);

2. a direction in assignment results that favors the cause of the client;

3. the amount of a value opinion;

4. the attainment of a stipulated result; or

5. the occurrence of a subsequent event directly related to the appraiser’s opinions and specific to the assignment’s purpose.  (Bold added for emphasis)

You could respond to this request with the following statement: “I cannot accept the assignment with this condition because it violates professional ethics. You should be aware that I must develop the appraisal before I will know the results. I can only accept the assignment if you remove the predetermined value requirement.”

Please refer to Advisory Opinion 19 Unacceptable Assignment Conditions in Real Property Appraisal Assignments for additional guidance on appraisal requests with conditions.