B4-1.1-04, Unacceptable Appraisal Practices (05/01/2024)

The following are examples of unacceptable appraisal practices:

• development of or reporting an opinion of market value (including responses to requests for an ROV) that is not supportable by market data or is misleading;

• development of a valuation conclusion based either partially or completely on the sex, race, color, religion, disability, national origin, familial status, or including a reference to any protected class of either the prospective owners or occupants of the subject property or the present owners or occupants of the properties in the vicinity of the subject property;

• reference to crime rate or related data;

• use of unsupported assumptions, interjections of personal opinion, or perceptions about factors in the valuation process and the use of subjective terminology, including, but not limited to:

  • "pride of ownership," "no pride of ownership," and "lack of pride of ownership";

  • "poor neighborhood";

  • "good neighborhood";

  • "crime" (and its variants);

  • "desirable neighborhood or location"; or

  • "undesirable neighborhood or location";

• development of a valuation conclusion based on factors that local, state, or federal law designate as discriminatory, and thus, prohibited;

• misrepresentation of the physical characteristics of the subject property, improvements, or comparable sales;

• failure to comment on negative factors with respect to the subject neighborhood, the subject property, or proximity of the subject property to adverse influences;

• failure to adequately analyze and report any current contract of sale, option, offering, or listing of the subject property and the prior sales of the subject property and the comparable sales;

• selection and use of inappropriate comparable sales;

• failure to use comparable sales that are the most locationally and physically similar to the subject property;

• creation of comparable sales by combining vacant land sales with the contract purchase price of a home that has been built or will be built on the land;

• failure to personally inspect the exterior of the comparable property when required by the scope of work in the appraisal report;

• use of adjustments to comparable sales that do not reflect market reaction to the differences between the subject property and the comparable sales;

• not supporting adjustments in the sales comparison approach;

• failure to make adjustments when they are clearly indicated;

• use of data, particularly comparable sales data, provided by parties that have a financial interest in the sale or in the financing of the subject property without the appraiser’s verification of the information from a disinterested source;

• development of an appraisal or reporting an appraisal in a manner or direction that favors the cause of either the client or any related party, the amount of the opinion of value, the attainment of a specific result, or the occurrence of a subsequent event in order to receive compensation or employment for performing the appraisal or in anticipation of receiving future assignments; or

• development of or reporting an appraisal in a manner that is inconsistent with the requirements of USPAP.