Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of Terms

By creating an account or using Appraisal Forge ("the Service"), you agree to these Terms of Service and to the Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Service. Consent given at registration is recorded with the version date shown above.

2. The Service

Appraisal Forge is a software tool for preparing, validating, and exporting Uniform Residential Appraisal Reports (UAD 3.6 / URAR). The Service provides form tooling, compliance validation, adjustment calculations, and export to PDF and MISMO 3.6 XML. It is a tool — it does not perform appraisals.

3. Accounts and Registration Approval

• You must provide accurate registration information and keep your credentials confidential.
• New accounts are subject to administrator approval before activation.
• You are responsible for all activity under your account, including activity through API tokens and connected tools you authorize.

4. Professional Responsibility

You remain solely responsible for the content, accuracy, and compliance of every appraisal report you produce, including compliance with USPAP, UAD requirements, lender engagement terms, and applicable law. Validation results, automated fixes, and generated narrative text are aids, not professional opinions, and do not substitute for your professional judgment. The Service does not provide legal, lending, or appraisal advice.

5. Your Data and Third-Party Personal Information

• You retain ownership of the appraisal content and workfiles you create or upload. You grant us only the limited rights needed to operate the Service (storage, processing, validation, export at your direction).
• Appraisal assignments often include nonpublic personal information about borrowers or property owners sourced from lenders. You represent that you are authorized — by your engagement and applicable law — to upload and process that information in the Service.
• We handle such information as described in the Privacy Policy, including GLBA-aware safeguards and no sale of data.

6. Acceptable Use

• No unlawful use, including use to produce fraudulent or misleading appraisal reports.
• No attempts to breach, probe, or overload the Service, or to access another user's data.
• No uploading of malicious code.
• No use of the Service to process personal information you have no right to process.

7. Intellectual Property

The Service, including its software, design, and documentation, is owned by us or our licensors. These terms grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable right to use the Service for preparing appraisal reports in the ordinary course of your professional practice.

8. Disclaimers

The Service is provided "as is" and "as available" without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. We do not warrant that validation results are complete or that exported reports will be accepted by any lender, GSE, or regulator.

9. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, we are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost data, or professional liability arising from reports you produce. Our aggregate liability for claims relating to the Service is limited to the amount you paid for the Service in the twelve months preceding the claim. (Limits and carve-outs to be confirmed by counsel.)

10. Suspension and Termination

We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these terms or threaten the security of the Service. You may stop using the Service at any time and may request deletion of your data as described in the Privacy Policy.

11. Changes to These Terms

We may update these terms. Material changes will be versioned (see the version date above) and notice will be provided through the Service. Continued use after a change constitutes acceptance of the updated terms.

12. Governing Law and Disputes

Governing law, venue, and dispute-resolution terms to be determined by counsel before launch.

13. Contact

Questions about these terms: legal@appraisalforge.example (placeholder contact — to be replaced before launch).