Scope of Work and Letter of Enagagement for Appraisal Order Form
Pursuant to your request, this is an agreement to perform an appraisal inspection on the above named property.
The purpose of this appraisal is to provide our professional opinion of the market value of the property for the purpose of Private use.
The appraisal will be prepared in accordance with the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice.
Please review and return the executed/signed copy to us indicating your acceptance and approval of the terms set forth in this letter. The estimated completion date of the appraisal will be determined as of the date of the physical inspection or an agreed upon date prior. We agree to keep you informed of any delays or issues that may arise during the course of our work in preparing the report that may change the delivery date.
We will furnish you with a PDF of the appraisal report. Our fee for this appraisal will be quoted to you and is the agreed upon fee that we have discussed. The fee stated in this letter is the fee for the site visit and report ONLY.
Confidentiality and Recordkeeping. We will maintain the confidentiality of all information and documentation received during our work and will abide by all court orders and applicable professional appraisal standards regarding the disclosure of information relating to this matter.
Other Clients and Matters. The value of our services to you and your client is based, in part, on our reputation for independent professionalism and integrity. It is possible that We may be engaged by other law firms representing parties adverse to you or your client in other matters in the future. Your engagement of our services is expressly conditioned on your agreement not to use the fact of our current or previous engagement by other counsel in other matters as a means to enhance or diminish the credibility of our opinions or testimony in this matter or in any other matter.
Subpoenas and Testimony. In the event that our firm or any of its owners, appraisers or employees is required by subpoena or other legal process to provide testimony or produce documents relating to our services or work product in connection with this engagement, whether as an expert or percipient witness, and whether in court, deposition, arbitration or in any other proceeding, and regardless of the identity of the party requiring such testimony or production of documents, your client agrees to compensate our firm for the time incurred in connection with preparation for and provision of such testimony and/or documents at our regular hourly rates in effect at that time for expert/testimonial services and to reimburse our reasonable actual expenses. The foregoing shall not apply to the extent that a third party pays our fees or expenses.
Hold Harmless and Limitation of Liability. To assure that our services in this matter can be rendered freely and independently, your client agrees to indemnify, defend and hold harmless our firm, its owners, appraisers and employees from and against any and all liabilities, losses, costs and expenses relating to our consulting or testimonial services under this engagement. The foregoing shall not apply to any matter resulting from our gross negligence or willful misconduct. In any case, however, the total collective liability of our firm, its owners, appraisers and employees for all claims of any kind arising out of, relating to or connected with this engagement shall be limited to the total fees paid to us under this engagement.
We will proceed with the preparation of this appraisal upon receipt of a signed copy of this letter. All payments are to be made before any report is submitted to the client. Payments should be made after the inspection takes place. The appraiser may make exceptions to this however in that case a retainer of HALF the quoted fee is due prior to any services.
NOTE: Appraiser Independence Requirements: This appraiser completed this assignment with no influence on value (written or verbal) from any party connected with this assignment as referenced in the signed certification. To this appraiser’s knowledge and only to the extent to which this appraiser would know (from the appraisal receiving end), the subject appraisal is in compliance with the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac Appraiser Independence Requirements (AIR), appraiser independence safeguards (i). Requirements such as acceptability of subsequent appraisals (ii), borrower receipt of appraisal (iii), appraiser engagement (iv), use of reports (v), transfer of appraisals (vi), referrals of appraisal misconduct (vii), and compliance (viii) are requirements that are unknown to this appraiser. This appraiser is not related to the owner of the subject property, and if this is a purchase, not related to the buyer
Reliance on Expert Reports: In the event that we prepare any expert reports as part of this engagement, the use of any such expert reports shall be limited to litigation of the above referenced matter. The expert reports may not be used or relied on, in whole or in part, for any other purposes.
Right to Withhold Services and/or Withdraw. Without liability on our part and without regard to the stage of litigation, we shall have the right to withhold providing services (including delivering any report or providing testimony) or withdraw completely, at our sole option, if any of our invoices are not timely paid or if we determine that an irreconcilable conflict has arisen.