Pit Falls for Attorneys

Attorneys are advocates.  Attorneys need appraisers who are the opposite of that, who are objective and without bias.  The only advocacy that is appropriate for an appraiser is advocacy for his or her opinion of value.  To be shown to be biased is the undoing of an appraiser and, so, of the appraisal.  Bias in an appraiser is everyone’s pitfall. 
 
Attorneys need appraisers who can get on the same page with them.  An attorney may need to know what a property is worth not as it is but as it would be if the house hadn’t burned down, if the contamination hadn’t migrated underground, or if the town were to allow a Dunkin’ Donuts to go in next door.  To discover that the appraiser has not fully understood the “what if” questions is a pitfall.  The Daubert decision and the precedent it sets for expert witness qualification are pitfalls.  To find that the appraiser who has been hired lacks the expertise a court requires and to learn that when the appraiser is on the witness stand is a pitfall. 
 
Apart from the pitfalls of the courtroom are the pitfalls of estate and other appraisals.  Is the appraisal dated as of the date of death?  Does the appraisal include the whole property – the parking space in the garage, the storage space in the basement, or the extra lot off to the side?
 
Attorneys sometimes look for an Appraisal Bible that will allow them to determine whether an appraiser has done the job “by the book.”  The pitfall in that search is that appraisal texts primarily teach techniques but mandate very little.  Most of what the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice requires of an appraisal is that it be credible.  “Credible” may sound vague.  But, in fact, it is a high standard.  Above all, attorneys need appraisers and appraisals that are credible.