Fuhrmeister Appraisal provides honest and ethical appraisals for Johnson County

Honesty and Integrity: Fuhrmeister Appraisal

Appraising is a profession, and appraisers are professionals. The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have become more difficult than ever before. That's why it goes without question these days that real estate appraisal can unquestionably be called a profession rather than a trade. As with any profession we are bound by ethical considerations.

The appraiser's main responsibility is to their client. Most of the time, in residential practice, the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal, and often the appraisal is ordered by a third party the lender has hired in order to maintain independence. Thereon, appraisers are privy to a lot of data, and like an attorney, can only discuss many of these matters with their client. As a homeowner, if you want a copy of the appraisal document, you generally should obtain it from your lender.

Other responsibilities include accurate figures appropriate to the parameters of the assignment, attaining and maintaining an adequate level of competency and education, and naturally, the appraiser must bear a professional demeanor. Here at Fuhrmeister Appraisal , we take these ethical responsibilities very seriously.

In some cases appraisers will have fiduciary responsibilities to third parties, such as homeowners, both buyers and sellers, or others. Typically the third parties are clearly defined in the appraisal report. An appraiser's fiduciary duty is limited to those parties who the appraiser is aware of, based on the scope of work or other things in the framework of the assignment.


	Fuhrmeister Appraisal has worked hard for its reputation for producing appraisals with the highest of ethics. To learn more, contact us.

There are also ethical rules that have nothing to do with whom we share information. For example, appraisers must be able to produce their work files for at least five years - something else Fuhrmeister Appraisal diligently adheres to.

Fuhrmeister Appraisal holds itself to the industry standards and rules set in place for ethics. We won't accept anything less from ourselves. Doing orders where our fee is dependent on our value conclusion is not something we can consider. That is, we are not able to agree to do an appraisal report and collect the fee only if the loan closes. Anyone should be able to see that fabricating a home's value to achieve what amounts to a higher paycheck is unethical! This isn't how we operate.

Finally, the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (or simply "USPAP") also defines unethical behavior as accepting of an assignment that is contingent on "the reporting of a pre-determined result (e.g., opinion of value)", "a direction in assignment results that favors the cause of the client", or "the amount of a value opinion" as well as other situations. We diligently follow these rules to the letter which means you can rest easy knowing we are going above and beyond to provide an unbiased determination of the home or property value.

As soon as you engage Fuhrmeister Appraisal , we'll make sure you're getting the professional service you expect along with the principles we're known for.