“I never make adjustments,” said the MAI who first trained me. He was a top litigation appraiser. He explained that if he made an adjustment he had no way to explain how he got the number when cross-examined by the opposing attorney. Instead, he used what is called ‘qualitative analysis.’ The Appraisal of Real Estate […]
“USPAP” is for credible appraisers. The underlying principle of the actual ‘standards’ and the hundreds of pages of “explanatory” material is that the appraiser’s work must be “worthy of belief.” Accuracy and precision (trueness and sureness) are never stated as a goal. Believability, in turn, is judged by the user “expectations” and if “peers” would […]
An appraisal, everyone knows what is. Or do they? To explore this question, we must consider the theoretical – what USPAP expects. And we must consider what actually happens – in real, practical, practical, practice. In addition, we must consider other “valuations” types. We also might glance at what might be an ideal – given […]
Quasi-government “Congressionally-authorized” appraisal standards require “correct” research and analyses. What does that mean? What is correct? And who decides? It’s in Standard 1. Be correct. Editor’s Note: This is Standards, part 3.14 of George Dell’s series on How Do I Move to EBV? Links to the earlier posts are here. Does this say – it’s […]
Evidence Based Valuation© – EBV exemplifies the best of what has been called “appraisal modernization.” Do current standards help our progress, or are they in the way of the best future? Part I is an overview. Part II is on education. Standards intertwine with education. Here in Part III we start our multi-part look at USPAP […]
Picking comparable sales is critical. Selecting the ‘best’ four or five ‘comps’ requires experience and training. Appraisal education tells us a good comparable is competitive, similar, and able to be compared. Customary training and practical experience generally focus on analysis and presentation of three to six comparables. Unfortunately, this is NOT what is required by […]
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 […]
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 […]
Things become obsolete because they fail to keep up. USPAP (Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice) has served us well. And things have changed. And times have changed. Appraisal standards go back quite a ways, primarily by the forerunners of today’s Appraisal Institute. Also, assessor groups sought and created standards or procedures for mass appraisal […]
The body of a letter to the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services about systems reform. Appraisal reform or Appraisal industry reform? It is critical to understand that ‘appraisal’ does not equal ‘valuation’, or risk analysis, or anything else. It is a precise definition of a nebulous product. The current U.S. House Committee on Financial […]
Credible— USPAP (Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice) says an appraisal must be credible. The word ‘credible’ is used some 82 times in the Standards themselves (although used repetitively in the same context using identical words most of those times). Then an additional some 103 times in the Advisory Opinions, mostly re-quoting the first 82 […]
Hybrid Appraisal Part VII: Is it possible that Hybrid appraisals can benefit us all!? Consumer heaven? Taxpayer benefit? Public trust? Hybrid appraisals are touted as being a “modernization” of the appraisal process. Simply put, a non-appraiser does the inspection of the property, there is no physical assessment of the neighborhood nor any of the comparables. […]
And change it does. The biggest changes slip in almost without notice. USPAP recognizes change. In fact, Standard 1-1 says: …the principle of change continues to affect the manner in which appraisers perform appraisal services. It specifically recognizes change in cost, construction, marketing, law, lending all lead, or should lead to corresponding changes in appraisal […]
If you pick comps the old way, you may be violating USPAP every day! The old way of selecting data worked well for the old days. Gather seven or eight that look good, go look at them, make a couple of phone calls, and pick four or five for your report. That was the way […]
Appraisers have been taught to first analyze the subject property. Is this correct? What would an economist do? Would she analyze the property, or figure out the market? Well yes, an economist would try to figure out a market. First, it’s important to consider what type of market we are talking about. What are the […]