I am a smart and educated, award-winning appraiser. It is not possible for me to be irrational. Of course not. You can see that. I can see that. A high IQ and education won’t necessarily protect you from highly irrational behavior—and it may sometimes amplify your errors. David Robson, in an Excerpt from The Intelligence […]
Bias, We Got it Handled? We got standards, we got smarts. And we have issues . . . This is the second of a series asking questions and seeking answers about bias in valuation. Part One is here. President Biden proposed to “establish a national standard for housing appraisals.” The purpose is to ensure adequate […]
A great deal of economic, social, and political talk has been around affordability of housing. To explore this topic, it may be helpful to ask some questions. Good policy starts with the right questions. In simplest terms, some people have the resources to have nice homes in nice neighborhoods, others have just tolerable homes for […]
Is it possible discussions about bias are biased? Oh no! Surely personal motive cannot affect my position on bias. Can it? Editor’s Note: This is another intersection of Modernization (Part IX) and Bias (Part 6). It is difficult being a word nerd right now. Particularly writing about bias. This is a topic which is much […]
Legacy appraisal practice “the valuation process” is well established. Therein lies the problem. It is not designed to use modern methods toward objective, unbiased results. First, lets distinguish the different kinds of bias. We need to separate personal bias from analytic bias. Personal bias can be intentional, or unintentional (unconscious). Analytic bias itself can come […]
Is there bias in the American Dream? Do we need a “loan conditions” adjustment? Read this series here. Loan conditions have nothing to do with ‘financing’ adjustments as we know them! One is local. The other is global. So how might loan conditions affect “market value”? Financing conditions are often related to motivation in sale […]
I was curious about what is “critical race theory”. I didn’t understand what it was about. The Sunday paper article – yes, I still read the morning newspaper every morning . . . seemed to summarize CRT and the oblong political football it seems to have become. Why critical? Why Theory? And what does this […]
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. […]
A vary good question! As I have often contended: The problem with statistics is . . . words. Appraisal has been accused of being a “cottage industry.” Grrrr. How can this be? Here, too, part of the problem is words. We have continued to use, enforce, and teach outmoded ways and words. Ways and words […]
The 1004MC “market conditions” appraisal addendum was created by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to require a form-based market analysis. This added to the traditional practice to collect a handful of ‘comps’ to opine and foretell market price. There are problems and unintended consequences. The ANSI requirement is that residential appraisers measure houses according to […]
The messenger. Psychology research easily points out our tendency to dislike the bearer of bad news. It’s also intuitive. Bad news messengers do not smile when they bring the news. Sometimes they even look guilty. We humans can be really basic. We see a correlation between the bad news, the frown, and the messenger. Appraisers […]
Bias and prejudice are always relevant topics. Recently these have received more attention. In asking the questions we present in the Analogue Blog, we find that three concepts/actions produce the greatest response, to create divisiveness and deepening anger in an argument. The three concepts of ignorant argument: 1) use the word “bias,” badly; 2) state […]
Yes, personal bias in appraisals can be eliminated. The appraisal ‘process’, in its current standard, is “loose.” It is not internally biased either way. But it is vulnerable to systemic human and analytic bias. It enables and conceals bias. It is vulnerable to attack — as being “too high” or “too low,” depending on the […]
Why not data science? Before we talk about anything, we need to know what ‘it’ is. What is data science? First, what is science? Science is “a systematic study, by observation or experiment; by an expert in scientific method and the field of study.” And what is data? Data is anything which can be measured, […]
The transaction zone is a range within which a sale price might occur. Yet our definitions of value nearly all define a “most probable” price. In prior issues, we have discussed how vintage appraisal practice is vulnerable to accusations of bias. The “appraisal process” is most vulnerable at the beginning of the analysis, wherein “good […]