Privacy Policy

Appraisal Forge — Version 2026-06-11
DRAFT — pending counsel review. This document is a working draft and has not yet been approved by legal counsel.

1. Who We Are

Appraisal Forge ("we", "us", "the Service") is a software platform that helps licensed real estate appraisers prepare, validate, and export Uniform Residential Appraisal Reports (UAD 3.6 / URAR) for residential mortgage lending.

2. Information We Collect

  • Account information: your username, email address, and password (stored hashed), provided when you register.
  • Appraisal report content: the data you enter or upload into an appraisal, which may include property information, photographs, sketches, market data, and the names and property details of borrowers and property owners.
  • Lender-sourced documents: engagement letters, sales contracts, and similar workfile documents you upload, which may contain nonpublic personal information ("NPI") about borrowers or owners that originates from a financial institution.
  • Usage and log data: technical logs (IP address, request times, errors) generated when you use the Service, used for security and reliability.

3. Third-Party Personal Information and GLBA

Borrower and property-owner information contained in appraisal assignments typically originates from a lender or other financial institution. Where that information constitutes nonpublic personal information under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act ("GLBA") and its implementing rules, we handle it as a service provider:

  • We use it only to provide the Service to you — to prepare, validate, store, and export the appraisal report it belongs to.
  • We do not reuse or redisclose it for any other purpose, consistent with the reuse-and-redisclosure limitations applicable to information received from financial institutions.
  • We maintain administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect it, informed by the GLBA Safeguards Rule (16 C.F.R. Part 314).

Individuals whose information appears in an appraisal (for example, borrowers) are not users of the Service; the appraiser and their client lender remain responsible for any consumer-facing privacy notices required of them.

4. How We Use Information

  • To provide and operate the Service, including report generation, validation, and export (PDF / MISMO XML).
  • To administer accounts, including the registration approval workflow.
  • To secure the Service (rate limiting, abuse and fraud prevention, audit logging).
  • To support you when you ask for help.

5. Local-First Storage

Appraisal Forge is designed local-first. Appraisal report data and workfiles are stored on the server that hosts your deployment — on its local disk and in its database — not in a shared multi-tenant cloud data lake. Report content leaves the system only when you direct it to (for example, when you export a PDF or MISMO XML file, or connect an external tool to your account).

6. We Do Not Sell Your Data

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information or the contents of your appraisal reports, and we do not use borrower or owner information for advertising or marketing.

7. Sharing

We share information only:

  • with infrastructure or service providers strictly as needed to operate the Service, under confidentiality obligations;
  • when you direct it (exports, integrations you connect);
  • when required by law, legal process, or to protect the rights, safety, or security of the Service and its users.

8. Retention

Account information is retained while your account is active. Appraisal data and workfiles are retained until you delete them or request deletion, subject to legal retention obligations that may apply to appraisal records.

9. Security

We use reasonable safeguards including authenticated access, hashed credentials, scoped API tokens, request throttling on authentication endpoints, and audit logging. No system is perfectly secure; please report suspected vulnerabilities to the contact below.

10. Your Choices and Data Deletion

You may request access to, correction of, or deletion of your account information and appraisal data by contacting us at privacy@appraisalforge.example (placeholder contact — to be replaced before launch). We will respond within a reasonable period and verify your identity before acting on a request.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy. Material changes will be versioned (see the version date above), and continued use of the Service after a change constitutes acceptance. Registration consents are recorded against the version in effect at the time.

12. Contact

Questions about this policy: privacy@appraisalforge.example (placeholder contact — to be replaced before launch).

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Draft — pending counsel review. Effective date and governing entity to be confirmed by counsel.