Re-assigning may mean different things to different parties, so again, be sure you know what the requesting party is asking. In the context of this discussion, re-assigning means signing over one s rights and obligations with regard to the appraisal report to another party. Since the appraisal report was prepared for and given to Client A, that report is no longer yours to give , or assign, to anyone else. An analogy would be if you sell your car to Party A, you couldn t then sell it to Party B, as it is no longer yours to sell. When the request is to re-certify , clarification with the client is imperative.
Re-certify tends to be an abused term.
Often it is used to mean reassign , or re-address , as described above. Often it is erroneously used to mean update . Often it is not clear what clients mean when they use the term re-certify , and appraisers need to help remedy the confusion. This sort of assignment is not an appraisal at all, because in and of itself, it has nothing to do with developing an opinion of value. The general rule is that when a new client enters the picture and a new appraiser-client relationship is formed, a new assignment is involved.