An article was written a few days ago by an appraiser in the real estate industry which speaks to the loss of "public trust" and what that really means to their industry - and by extension to ours as well.  Note that "promoting the public trust" is in our Value Statement which speaks to the focus of the PAAO.

The article highlighted an erosion of public trust over the years along with the appraisal industry's lack of interest in address the issue.  The author pointed out an absence of criminal background checks (which the PAAO implemented DAY 1), an absence of ethical training (which is incorporated into our training program) and pressure by the banking industry for appraisers to develop pre-determined numbers or results (something forbidden in our Ethics Statement which we all signed).

Each Associate should take a few minutes to read this article and think about how you and your business are promoting the public trust in your day to day activities.

Without individual effort by each and every Associate, this is all just "words on paper".