The Appraisal Institute's education course binders have a really attractive AI logo with the tagline: Knowledge. Experience. Integrity.  I think they hit it spot on.  However, I would disagree with the word order.  I think integrity is No. 1 followed by experience and knowledge.  It might be because I'm left-handed (I often flip through magazines from the end to the beginning) but integrity is the epicenter of an appraiser's worth.  

Many commercial appraisers think their worth is their great comp write-ups, analysis acumen, fancy graphical linear regression, or their detailed DCF.  Nope.  Don't believe me?  Ask any reviewer what is the first thing they look for...who did the appraisal?  The reviewer will then open the report and get into the details of the valuation.  The reason is trust.  At our office we call trust the "new currency".

Moral turpitude is probably the quickest way for you to lose your appraisal license or even get deported.  I remember moral turpitude as a funny-sounding word and I think it was an answer on my first real estate exam.  It's generally defined as gross violation of standards of moral conduct, vileness, such that an act involving intention evil, making the act a crime.  Some people call it a sin.

I love red wine, especially dry Spanish tempranillo or a good Italian Chianti reserve.  It sounds pretentious I know, but a great red wine tastes great and facilitates slowing down your life-speed if only for a moment in time.  There is a popular zinfandel called 7 Deadly Zins, a play on words of the Catholic Church's seven deadly sins (or vices) which are wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony.  I'm not sure if drinking tempranillo while watching TV is a vice but I enjoy it.  I don't particularly like zinfandel but I thought the label was catchy.  

It got me thinking, what are the venial sins for commercial real estate appraisers.  After some thought I came up with the following:

Appraiser Sins
1.    Lacking the highest ethical standards
2.    Not loving what you do
3.    Getting the number wrong in your valuation
4.    Not having the best and most timely market data
5.    Report typos
6.    Poorly formatted, ugly and difficult to read reports
7.    Not automating the entire appraisal process from bid order, inspection, data collection, valuation analysis, report delivery, collection of payment to job close.

Integrity. Experience. Knowledge.  It's not just for an educational binder.  Don't end up in appraiser purgatory.  Live it in your professional and personal life!