Appraisal Engagement and Order
Order the right appraisal the first time: product, values, scope, independence, tracking
Install it in one line — paste a single command into Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor and it writes the skill into your project.
Free, and about thirty seconds: a work email and a six-digit code.
Downloading shares your name, firm, role, and email with The Helvetica Group. That introduction is what keeps every skill here free.
What this skill does
Gets the appraisal order right before it goes out: the right type of report, every value the loan needs, the documents the appraiser must see, controls that keep the value independent, and a tracker so a late report never surprises you at closing.
What it does
- Recommends the product — full appraisal, exterior-only, desktop or hybrid, commercial report, broker price opinion — and explains the trade-offs
- Names every value to request: as-is, as-repaired, as-complete, as-stabilized, market rent, and bulk versus individual lot values
- Drafts the engagement letter and scope of work, with the lender as client
- Lists the attachments by loan type, from the rehab scope to the plans, rent roll and survey
- Sets out appraiser-independence practices, flags which rules to confirm for your loan type, and builds a turn-time tracker
When to use it
- A new loan needs a valuation
- A rehab or construction loan needs an as-repaired or as-complete value
- A broker offers an appraisal they ordered themselves
- An appraisal is running late and closing is close
What to have ready
- The property and loan type
- Which values the loan will be sized on
- The purchase contract, rehab scope, plans or rent roll as applicable
- The target closing date
How to use it
- Download it with the button above. You'll sign in with a work email — that's how the creator knows who is using their skill.
- Copy the install prompt from the "Run it in Claude" box, and paste it into Claude along with the file. Claude installs the skill, fills in your firm's details where the file has
[BRACKETED]placeholders, and runs a quick test with you. - Then just ask in plain English. Claude picks the skill up on its own when a request matches it. Anything it still needs, it asks you for — it won't invent a number.
"Set up the appraisal order for a [LOAN TYPE] on [ADDRESS] — purchase price [PRICE], rehab budget attached, we need as-is and as-repaired values, closing [DATE]."
What you get back
An appraisal order package: a product recommendation, the values to request, a draft engagement letter and scope, an attachment checklist, independence controls, rules to confirm with compliance, and a turn-time tracker.
Good to know
- Output quality tracks input quality. A missing figure is flagged as missing — it is never estimated to fill a gap.
- Every draft is a starting point for your own review, not a finished decision.
- Runs anywhere Claude does: the Claude app, Claude Desktop, or Claude Code.
- It never passes a target value or loan amount to the appraiser, and it describes independence rules as principles to confirm for your loan type rather than legal conclusions. Once the report arrives, pair it with the Appraisal and Valuation Reviewer.
Legal disclaimer
This skill drafts; it does not decide. Its output is not legal, tax, accounting, appraisal, or investment advice, and using it creates no attorney-client, fiduciary, or advisory relationship. Nothing it produces is a commitment to lend or an offer to sell a security. Verify every number, date, citation, and conclusion against the source documents, and have a qualified professional licensed in the relevant jurisdiction review the work before you rely on it or send it to a borrower, investor, counterparty, or regulator. Laws, rates, and market data change. The final work product is yours.
Inside this skill
The actual file you get. Members can read it in full before saving it.
Appraisal Engagement and Order
Most bad appraisals were ordered badly. The rehab loan got an as-is value because nobody sent the scope of work, the construction loan's as-complete value relied on plans the appraiser never saw, the eight-lot loan came back with a sum of retail lot prices instead of what one buyer would pay for all eight, or the broker picked the appraiser and the report cannot be used. This skill gets the order right: the right product, the right values, the right documents attached, independence controls in place, and a tracker so nobody discovers on closing day that the report is late.
Works for: residential investor loans (fix-and-flip, DSCR rental, 2–4 unit), ground-up construction, land, small multifamily, and small-balance commercial. It covers ordering only. Once the report arrives, review it with appraisal-and-valuation-reviewer (commercial reports: whether the report is usable and which value drives the loan) or arv-support-reviewer (a residential as-repaired value).
Step 1 — Intake
| Input | Required? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Property | ✅ | Address, type, units, size, occupancy |
| Loan type and purpose | ✅ | Bridge, rehab, construction, DSCR, land, commercial; purchase or refinance; business or consumer purpose |
| Values the loan will be sized on | ✅ | As-is, as-repaired, as-complete, as-stabilized, market rent, bulk lot value |
| Lender's valuation policy | Helpful | Products allowed by loan size and type, AMC or panel, approved-appraiser rules. If none, say which choices are policy calls |
| Purchase contract | If a purchase | With all addenda and any assignment of contract |
| Rehab scope and budget, or plans and specs | For any as-repaired or as-complete value | Line-item scope; plans for ground-up |
| Rent roll, leases, trailing financials | For income property or a market-rent opinion | |
| Access contact | ✅ | Who lets the appraiser in — for access only |
| Target closing date | ✅ | Drives the due date and the tracker |
Minimum viable: property, loan type, the values needed, and a closing date. If an as-repaired or as-complete value is needed and there is no scope or plans, say the order cannot go out yet.
Step 2 — Choose the product and the value premises
Product. Match rigor to risk. Which products are allowed is the lender's policy, and for some
Reading the full skill counts as a download. The contributor receives your name, company, and email.
Ratings & reviews
No written reviews yet. If you run this on a live file, say how it went. The next lender reading this page is deciding whether to trust it.
Examination record
Run it in Claude
- Copy the install command above
- Paste it into Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor
- It writes the skill in, fills in your firm’s details, and test-runs it with you
Prefer the file? The prompt above is for a package you already downloaded.
Details
More from The Helvetica Group
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