Of course, appraisers are aware of their obligations as it relates to confidentiality and USPAP requirements. Most appraisers are also aware that they are considered a financial institution under the definitions provided by the Gramm-Leach- Bliley Act (GLB). Compliance is mandatory and a policy must be in place to protect the information security and data integrity. Another important aspect of data governance is data verifiability.

The ability to confirm that data provided in an appraisal report is legitimate is now a bigger topic because of the wide availability of data sources. It is no longer sufficient to just name a source as “public record” or “MLS”. The details of the actual source by name, effective date and reference numbers are now the order of the day.