I have personally seen areas of the state where more than one broker lists the property. It doesn't work very well, and the yard looks awfully strange with three or four different realty company signs on display. The closing attorney represents the transaction, even though one of the parties may pay the closing attorney's fee. It is the closing attorney's job to facilitate the closing, not to represent the legal interests of one of the parties. If you feel you need to have legal representation, take your own attorney with you to the closing.
Property taxes are ad valorem taxes.
The theory is that the owners of more valuable properties are wealthier and thus able to pay more taxes. The appraised value is an estimate of what your property will see for after negotiation, so the listing should be more than the appraised value. A hectare is 2.471 acres. There are 43,560 square feet in one acre. To visualize the size of one acre, compare it to a football field, which has about 44,000 square feet.