Appraisals are a professional opinion of value from an unbiased, competent individual or company acting as an appraiser.  While acting as an appraiser the individual is required to follow the standards provided by USPAP (The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice).  USPAP forms a framework that all appraisers use to arrive at their opinions of value. Everything from defining the client, assignment, scope of work, competency, methods of valuation, to the presentation of the results is clearly set forth.

The process is as follows:

• The client is identified, if the appraisal is defined as restricted the report is limited to the client only
• The assignment details are discussed between the client and the appraiser.  From this discussion the general framework of the workscope and results are set forth
• The appraiser begins the assignment by developing the detailed workscope.  This will be an iterative process that examines and performs the different approaches to value - sales comparative, cost, and income - and decide if each is appropriate for the assignment.
• Produce the report and generate the detailed work files.
• Provide the client with a report that includes the opinion of value.