Appraisal standards and regulations are mostly designed to discourage personal bias. But what about traditional appraisal practice? To understand this question, we must separate personal bias from analytic bias. Personal bias can be open, declared prejudice – or it may grow from basic human instinct – towards those who look like us. This basic tribal […]
Science is systematic way to build and organize knowledge. What’s to fear? Science is a search for the truth. Scary . . . How can the search for truth be scary? It is especially easy to deny the results of systematic study, if one can latch on to other’s fears, perpetuated misinformation, and wishful thinking. […]
We talk a lot about data. The Good. The Bad. The Biased. And how wonderfully important information is. But what really matters? It can be easy to get lost in the mish-mash of talk about data. Let’s step back. Why do we care about this? We care because it is useful as an input to […]
Modernization means bring in modern methods. What are they? Why aren’t they here? Is it really that hard? We have big financial resources. We have motive. We have huge organizations in place. And we have regulatory clout! Appraisal is just one type of valuation, done by super-regulated, licensed appraisers. Competing valuation products, like AVMs (Automated […]
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 […]
Editor’s Note: This is Part 1 of a new series on Bias. Easy – Just don’t be biased. Don’t even think about it! Alternately, we can have the government regulate and require it! To know what ‘unbiasedness’ is, and how to achieve it, we have to be able to measure it. We cannot enforce anything, […]
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, […]
Statistical methods have been long touted in established appraisal education. Yet they seem to remain mystical and remotely related to what we actually see in appraisal reports. What happened? I was an early proponent of more numerical methods as opposed to judgment opinion methods. It seemed to me that adjustments taken off adjustment sheets seemed […]
How many comps should I use? What do “authorities” say? Historical appraisal practice, as passed on from trainer to trainee, in the outdated master/apprentice model that imposed strong inviolable dictates. For residential forms, the magic number was three, sometimes up to five or six. Three and a subject column fit perfectly on a 8 1/2 […]
Neighborhood” seems like an obvious choice for analysis. But is it? (Part 5 of a series.) The knee-jerk reaction to this question is that obviously we need it. It is a starting core of analysis. It’s what we were taught. It’s required for our license test. Leaving out a neighborhood section (form or narrative) would […]
Editor’s Note: This is Part 6 of the series on Neighborhood. We’re told we should analyze a neighborhood. This is mostly a residential concept. For non-residential appraisal the focus is often a “district” – a group of similar property uses. (Rather than a group of complementary uses.) In previous Analogue Blogs, we have looked at […]
Ah, this is easy – pick comps! This was pretty easy, compared to the many other things I had to learn. It was a little harder than making adjustments though. For adjustments, I had an adjustment sheet. I foolishly asked how the numbers were arrived at. The answer was “It comes from many years of […]
Everyone knows value. Of course! It’s easy! Value is what I can sell something for. Well, sorta. No, wait – value is what I am willing to pay for something. Editor’s Note: This is Part 2 of Market Value or Other Value. I have an apple. You want one. I threaten to take a bite […]
In Part One we asked why the current definition of market value has been around without change for so long? We focused on item 4 in the current definition of market value which says: “payment is made in terms of cash in U. S. dollars or in terms of financial arrangements comparable thereto” Editor’s Note: […]
The three ways are: 1) pick using good judgment; 2) draw random sample; or, 3) use all relevant sales. Editor’s Note: This is part 2 of the series ‘Three Ways to Pick Comps‘. When I became an appraiser, good judgment ruled. Commercial data was not available, and the MLS comp book came out every three […]