(1) In developing and reporting an appraisal of
real property, an appraiser shall not:
(a)
perform any appraisal assignment beyond the scope of authority granted in the
appraiser classification held;
(b)
fail to disclose clearly and accurately the appraiser classification and number
granted to the appraiser by the state;
(c) fail to employ correctly methods and
techniques that are necessary to produce a credible appraisal. Unless the
appraiser expressly provides a credible real estate appraisal justification in
the appraisal report, the appraiser may not vary from the following guidelines:
1. appraisers reaching a conclusion of value
for a real property must:
a. Obtain all data
used in every appraisal from a reliable source and verify that data from at least
one additional reliable source. For purposes of this Chapter a reliable source
shall be one typically utilized by appraisers in the area and includes, but is
not limited to, a personal inspection by the appraiser; publicly filed records;
property tax records; an appropriate local multiple listing service; and
commercially available data based and publications reasonably relied upon by
appraisers in the ordinary course of their business.
An appraiser may also rely upon information obtained from real
estate appraisers, brokers, closing attorneys, sellers, and buyers provided that
the appraiser maintains (1) documentation of any information obtained from
appraisers, brokers, closing attorneys, sellers, and buyers and (2) the name and
telephone number and/or address of each source in the appraiser's file for at
least five years;
b. Obtain
for the appraiser's file the Tax Assessor's 100% market value;
c. identify and state in the appraisal report
any list prices of the property if listed within the preceding year reported by
reliable sources; and
d. comment on
the impact on the market value of the subject of foreclosure activity in the
market area of the subject property.
2. appraisers utilizing the market approach for
reaching a conclusion of value for a real property must:
a. identify and describe the market area as a
geographic location;
b. select
comparable properties that are the most recent sales and that reflect current
market conditions for valuation of the subject property. Absent a credible real
estate appraisal explanation for a different definition of most recent sales,
most recent sales shall be within one year and in the market area. The most
recent sales shall be presumed to be properties that have sold within the
preceding year of the effective date of the appraisal;
c. select comparable properties for valuation
of a residential property that require the net total of any adjustments to the
sales price of a comparable sale not to exceed 15% and the gross total of all
adjustments (whether positive or negative) not to exceed 25%, absent a credible
real estate appraisal explanation for differing adjustments;
d. select comparable properties for valuation
of a property that are located within the market area of the subject. Absent a
credible real estate appraisal explanation for a different market area, the
market area for residential properties shall be presumed to be comparable
properties located first within the same subdivision as the subject and second
located within one mile of the subject;
e. list in the appraisal report any sale of the
subject property held within the preceding three (3) years of the appraisal's
effective date including the date of sale and sales price. In addition, comment
on or explain if any sale occurred within six (6) months of a previous sale
within said three (3) year period when the sales price increased more than 25% of
the previous sales price;
f. list in
the appraisal report any sales of comparable properties used in said report held
within the preceding one (1) year of the comparable properties last date of sale
including the previous date of sale and sales prices. In addition, comment on or
explain if any sale occurred within six (6) months of a previous sale within said
one (1) year period when the sales price increased more than 25% of the previous
sales price.
g. state the exposure
time indicated by the market.
3. appraisers utilizing the cost approach for
reaching a conclusion of value for a real property must include in the appraisal
report the relevant replacement cost data from a source reasonably relied upon by
appraisers in the ordinary course of their business. Said source must be
identified by title on the appraisal report;
4. appraisers utilizing the income approach for
reaching a conclusion of value for a real property shall identify in the
appraisal report the source of any income data used in the appraisal report;
identify any ownership or other interest which such source has in the subject
property; and maintain in the appraiser's file for a period of five years written
verification of such income data.
(d) commit a substantial error of omission or
commission that significantly affects the appraisal;
(e) render appraisal services in a careless or
negligent manner;
(f) communicate the
appraiser's analyses, opinions, or advice in a manner that is misleading to the
client;
(g) fail to include in a
report of an appraisal sufficient information to enable the person(s) who are
expected to receive or rely on the report to understand it properly;
(h) perform an independent appraisal assignment
with partiality or an accommodation of personal interest;
(i) accept an independent appraisal assignment
when the employment itself is contingent upon the appraiser's reporting a
predetermined estimate, analysis, valuation, or opinion or where the fee to be
paid is contingent upon the opinion, conclusions, analysis, or valuation reached
or upon the consequences resulting from the appraisal assignment;
(j) perform any appraisal assignment without
(1) disclosing any lack of knowledge and/or experience to the client before
accepting the assignment; (2) taking all steps necessary to complete the
assignment competently; (3) describing the lack of knowledge and/or experience
and the steps taken to complete the assignment competently in the appraisal
report; and (4) having the client expressly identify any other persons or
entities that the client expects to rely on the appraisal report;
(k) report the results of a real property
appraisal without disclosing the nature, extent, and detail of the appraisal
processes undertaken;
(l) fail to
disclose clearly and accurately in the appraisal report any assumption or any
limiting condition that directly affects the appraisal and to indicate its impact
on value;
(m) fail to include in an
appraisal report a certification that includes the following items in language
substantially similar to the following:
I certify that, to the best of my knowledge and belief:
- the statements of fact contained in this report are true and
correct.
- the reported analyses, opinions, and conclusions are limited
only by the reported assumptions and limiting conditions, and are my personal,
unbiased professional analyses, opinions, and conclusions.
- I have no (or the specified) present or prospective interest in
the property that is the subject of this report, and I have no (or the specified)
personal interest or bias with respect to the parties involved.
- I have performed no (or the specified) services, as an
appraiser or in any other capacity, regarding the property that is the subject of
this report within the three year period immediately preceding acceptance of this
assignment.
- I have no bias with respect to the property that is the subject
of this report or to the parties involved in this assignment.
- my engagement in this assignment or in any future assignment is
not contingent upon developing or reporting predetermined results.
- my compensation is not contingent upon the reporting of a
predetermined value or direction in value that favors the cause of the client,
the amount of the value estimate, the attainment of a stipulated result, or the
occurrence of a subsequent event.
- my analyses, opinions, and conclusions were developed, and this
report has been prepared, in conformity with the Georgia Real Estate Appraiser
Classification and Regulation Act and the Rules and Regulations of the Georgia
Real Estate Appraisers Board.
- I have (or have not) made a personal inspection of the property
that is the subject of this report. (If more than one person signs the report,
this certification must clearly specify which individuals did and which
individuals did not make a personal inspection of the appraised property.)
- no one provided significant professional assistance to the
person signing this report.
(If there are exceptions, the name of each individual providing
significant professional assistance must be stated and the professional
assistance provided must be disclosed.);
(n) falsify any part of an appraisal
report;
(o) fail to maintain at all
times direct control of the appraiser's signature and the method by which that
signature is affixed to an appraisal report. An appraiser may grant permission to
another to affix the appraiser's signature to an appraisal report provided that
the permission is in writing, the permission extends to only one specific
appraisal report, the writing identifies the report and the amount of the opinion
of value, and the appraiser maintains a copy of the written permission in the
appraiser's work file. An appraiser shall not grant blanket authority to another
person to affix the appraiser's signature to an appraisal report or reports;
and
(p) use any uniform residential
appraisal report form for reporting appraisal work for any purpose other than to
report an appraisal.
(q) Submit or
transmit an appraisal report without taking reasonable steps to ensure that the
report cannot be altered, modified or otherwise facilitate unlicensed appraisal
activity as addressed in O.C.G.A. §
43-39A-24.
Such unlicensed activity may include the alteration or modification of the report
by the client, liaison of the recipient, or appraisal management
company.
(r) if paid by a third
party, fail to include the fee paid for the appraisal assignment and; if ordered
by an appraisal management company, the registration number of that appraisal
management company.
(2) An
appraiser who signs a real property appraisal report prepared by another accepts
full responsibility for the appraisal and the contents of the appraisal
report.
(3) On the effective date of
this Rule amendment and in anticipation of a change in USPAP published as the
Fourth Exposure Draft of proposed changes to the 2016-2017 Edition of it by the
Appraisal Standards Board to become effective January 1, 2016, the physical
characteristics of real estate appraised shall not be considered assignment
results. Examples of the physical characteristics include size, functional
utility, physical conditions, and quality of the real estate appraised. An
appraiser shall not disclose appraisal assignment results or confidential
information found in an appraisal to anyone other than:
(a) the client and parties specifically
authorized by the client;
(b) state
appraiser regulatory agencies and third parties as may be authorized by due
process of law;
(c) a duly authorized
professional peer review committee except when such disclosure to a committee
would violate applicable law or regulation; and
(d) the appraiser's legal counsel or
professional expert representing the appraiser in an existing criminal, civil, or
administrative law investigation or proceeding involving the appraiser.
(4) In developing and reporting an
appraisal of real property in a non-federally related transaction; an appraiser
must take reasonable steps to identify and report (a) the identity of the current
owner of the property, (b) whether the property is listed for sale and identify
and state in the appraisal report all list prices within the preceding year, (c)
whether the property is under contract for sale, and (d) whether the property has
sold within the last three years prior to the effective date of the
appraisal.
(5) While documenting
compliance with the requirements of paragraph (4) above may be accomplished in a
variety of ways, an appraiser who attaches to the appraisal report the following
items, obtained contemporaneously with the appraisal, shall be deemed to have met
the requirements of this rule:
(a) a copy of the
most recently recorded deed transferring ownership of the property or county tax
records showing the name(s) of the property's current owner(s) of
record,
(b) a copy of any existing
listing agreement or documentation from a multiple listing service that reflects
a listing period of the property and its owner(s); and
(c) a written statement signed by the party
ordering the appraisal that such party has disclosed to the appraiser all pending
agreements to sell the property of which it is aware and has supplied to the
appraiser all written agreements to sell the property of which it is
aware.
(6) When a client
of an appraiser requests an appraisal of a property that was the subject of an
appraisal performed by that appraiser for a different client and intended user(s)
with a new effective date and if the appraiser uses any data from the original
appraisal in the appraisal for the new client, then, unless the appraiser
expressly provides a credible real estate appraisal justification in the
appraisal report, the appraiser must, at a minimum:
(a) perform an inspection of the subject
property sufficient in scope to provide a credible appraisal;
(b) re-verify any data from the first appraisal
that is being re-used in the new appraisal;
(c) review the comparable sales that were used
in the original appraisal and analyze any comparable sales that have occurred or
on which information has become available since the date of the original;
and
(d) identify the new client and
intended user(s).
O.C.G.A. Secs.
43-39A-8, 43-39A-13, 43-39A-18.
