For those of us that are old enough, we probably got our first lessons in ethics from a BUG!
That's right . . . a BUG! Jiminy Cricket is a fictional character who first appeared in the 1940 Walt Disney animated film Pinocchio. He was appointed by the Blue Fairy to serve as the official conscience for Pinocchio. He laid our foundation for "Ethical Thinking".
For appraisers our official conscience is a book appointed by the Appraisal Foundation - USPAP.
"Appraiser Ethics" are tested daily.
We are constantly pressured (directly or indirectly) to do things that ilegal or unethical according to USPAP. How is it that some appraisers can take the high-road and others cannot. Do those that fail those daily ethical tests need to take yet another USPAP Course?
Can Ethics be taught?
Scott Jura, SRA, General Certified Real Estate Appraiser from Fresno, California decided to tackle the question . . .
The trouble with the ethics stuff (as I see it) is that you have habits (and if you have bad habits, you can slip over the edge, even accidentally -- especially if work is real busy, you don't have someone reviewing your reports, etc.).
Then you've got perspective. Ever try to convince someone his religion or politics or whatever has serious errors? They'll actually understand words to mean darn near the opposite of what they mean to hold their perspective.
Then you've got, "You don't know what you don't know." Ignorance of the law is no excuse, but it will get you good play in the media to some extent. It won't keep out out of fines, penalties, lawsuits, etc.
Then you've got some people without a conscience. It absolutely doesn't register that their action will harm someone, or if it does register, they flat out don't care. (We probably have a lot more people with wounded consciences, who see a lot of bogusness happening around them and go 'teenager' on you, "Well... EVERYONE else is doing it!!!" "The regulators never complained, never said THAT, never busted anybody for that, etc... " "I'm not hurting anyone." or simply never recognized the bogusness/weakness/
Then you've got people who were never trained, or worse were trained poorly. They're good people between that 'wounded conscience' category and 'don't know what you don't know' category. They kinda sorta heard what's right and what's wrong, but they didn't hear it repeated, didn't hear it in context, or got overwhelmed with distractions the single time they did hear it and wound up with the idea that, "THAT is not important."
I agree that ethics can be developed, learned, and bad ethics abandoned. But I suspect it ain't easy if you don't have a good foundation, didn't good exposure to the concept as you were learning the trade, and got sloppy in the busy boom times.
A serious loss, lawsuit, arrest record, or fine/penalty is not the way to start learning ethics, but I bet it will be the way that many start to improve theirs -- and they will also be the way that many will exit the field.
AUTHOR: Scott Jura, SRA: General Certified real estate appraiser in Fresno, California. SRA designation from the Appraisal Institute eMail: sjura@giura.
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