- Joined
- Jan 17, 2002
- Professional Status
- Certified Residential Appraiser
- State
- Illinois
I'm doing a divorce appraisal of a subject property where there is an extensive amount of toxic groundwater contamination that was dumped by a nearby mfg plant. It's still an ongoing situation and I've included language in my engagement letter to hopefully make it clear that there are limitations to my appraisal. What do you think of this language??
"You are aware of the Lockformer contamination situation. The research associated with identifying which properties have been contaminated is ongoing and there are still pending lawsuits. Just recently, the Lisle Village Board authorized testing along Inverness Lane. Additionally, some homeowners have tested their water supply using private testing firms and their results may be confidential and not disclosed to the buying public. The scope of this appraisal will include viewing some of the publicly available contamination maps provided by government sources and telephone inquires to the Village of Lisle offices. Reasonable efforts will be made to identify comparable properties that have a similar influence as your property. However, the uncertainty of the situation makes it impossible to be absolutely sure that the comparable properties are indeed subject to the same influences. In fact, different government agencies have produced differing boundary maps of areas of possible contamination and areas of suggested testing and it is nearly impossible to reconcile the results of all of the different tests that have been conducted. Therefore, your appraisal will be developed with an extraordinary assumption that states that the subject property, and all comparable properties, are subject to the same influences with respect to possible groundwater contamination."
"You are aware of the Lockformer contamination situation. The research associated with identifying which properties have been contaminated is ongoing and there are still pending lawsuits. Just recently, the Lisle Village Board authorized testing along Inverness Lane. Additionally, some homeowners have tested their water supply using private testing firms and their results may be confidential and not disclosed to the buying public. The scope of this appraisal will include viewing some of the publicly available contamination maps provided by government sources and telephone inquires to the Village of Lisle offices. Reasonable efforts will be made to identify comparable properties that have a similar influence as your property. However, the uncertainty of the situation makes it impossible to be absolutely sure that the comparable properties are indeed subject to the same influences. In fact, different government agencies have produced differing boundary maps of areas of possible contamination and areas of suggested testing and it is nearly impossible to reconcile the results of all of the different tests that have been conducted. Therefore, your appraisal will be developed with an extraordinary assumption that states that the subject property, and all comparable properties, are subject to the same influences with respect to possible groundwater contamination."