Can science be unscientific? Why do we care? In USPAP (Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice), the word science is not used. Not once! The word scientific is used only in Advisory Opinion 9, where it refers to “scientific aspects” of environmental contamination. In The Appraisal of Real Estate, 14th ed. the word is used […]
The legacy vs the upstart? What is the one single big difference? The traditional appraisal process is accepted. The Data Science viewpoint is new. (John Tukey predicted the impact of computer power on data analysis as an empirical science – in 1962.) Traditional appraisal has a proven legacy: It focuses on property analysis – leading […]
A cobra farm raises and sells cobras to the government, whose objective is to control cobras in the wild. OK, lets try this again . . . Jeremy Bagott, MAI, AI-GRS was our guest speaker at the 2nd annual meeting of the Community of Asset Analysts – in Oakland on October 28, 2020. Jeremy just […]
It’s not me, I’m not biased! Is it me, the model, or the data? A great problem with legacy appraisal is that bias is about personal bias, rather than analytical bias. USPAP (Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice) only addresses human bias. Similarly, The Appraisal of Real Estate by the Appraisal Institute only addresses analytical […]
Cognitive dissonance is the mental stress we feel when we’re confronted with conflicting beliefs and requirements. How could this possibly be a USPAP issue? USPAP, (Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice) may cause psychological dissonance in appraisers – because the review standards and practice standards have different requirements! For the appraiser, Standard 1-2(h) requires results to […]
We clean, scrub, transform, wrangle, munge, map, shape, enrich, enhance, prepare, preprocess, improve, and … verify. Data scientists spend 80% of their time on the data. Those of us who continue to move into these more objective methods – find this to be true. In fact, once you have the data prepared and enhanced, the […]
Faster we understand! But what is “better”? Faster is one of the ways we can make more money. Faster can be personally satisfying — if I can deliver a good or better product by being more efficient. Efficiency comes through good systems, and personal competency. Aha! So better can involve better systems, and more knowledge. […]
USPAP (Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice) ethics rule specifically states that “An appraiser must not perform an assignment with bias.” It defines Bias as “a preference or inclination that precludes an appraiser’s impartiality, independence, or objectivity in an assignment.” As we noted in a prior Analogue Blog, there are two types of bias: personal […]
Market value for home loans in the United States is precisely defined. The understanding of “market value” is the single most important concept defining what appraisers do. Buyer/seller are prudent, knowledgeable, well informed or advised, and ‘typically’ motivated; there is no ‘undue’ stimulus; and the sale is in cash terms, with normal exposure, and “unaffected […]
We have heard a lot about “modernizing” the appraisal process, particularly from the GSE’s (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac). What is clear, is that the path is not clear. The GSEs, pressing for an improved valuation product, are in a difficult situation. On one hand, they are supposed to cooperate. On the other hand, they […]
Are valuation procedures a set up for bias failure? Let’s look to see what systemic issues there may be regarding bias in valuation. This is an enigma of multiple overlapping issues. Let’s connect the “established” appraisal practice of USPAP (Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice), the established body of knowledge (EBOK), and human behavior reality. […]
No report. Can it be? Does modernized appraisal require a modernized report? And how about non-appraiser appraisals (valuations)? (Here we use the word ‘appraisal’ in its generic public meaning.) In the past, our thinking, expectations, laws and regulations, have separated the development of an appraisal from the report of an appraisal. In the past, that separation […]
Appraiser learning is replete with admonitions to good ethics. These are “enforced” by standards, believability conditions, and even ethical ‘rules.’ Many of us base our lives on spiritual principles (which may or may not be attached to any particular religion). In professional service, it is good to have business ethics align with our personal intent […]
Resolved: To protect the overall public trust. The ostensible purpose of government is to serve the public good. Government regulators are charged with quite a responsibility. A difficult job. Politics, pulls, jabs, and pokes abound. Everyone has a different view. But is that a real goal for 2022? Or a fake goal? A real goal […]
To regulate or improve something, you first measure it. The word credible appears in the most recent version of USPAP (©1999) some 276 times. The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice as published from time to time by the Appraisal Foundation. The word credibility is used an additional 39 times, specifically as a measure of […]