Hello,
We agree that random numbers and false hope are not helpful. We encourage you to add your own appraisal if you disagree with an appraisal left by someone else. That would be the most helpful response in those situations. Then, readers may use the information available them (e.g., the appraiser's reputation and apparent effort) to determine which appraisals hold merit to them.
We know that it's not a perfect system and could be improved, so we're still thinking about it and reading your ideas.
The problem:
Detecting a random number versus a genuine estimate would be quite complicated, if possible at all.
When it comes to appraisals, assuming good faith, there are two extremes:
- An educated guess based on significant amounts of data and experience.
- An uneducated guess based solely on personal opinion.
Every appraisal without established formulas, from the best to the worst and everything in-between, is a guess. The only differences are education and effort.
Readers of appraisals need to do their due diligence to determine these factors for each appraisal and its appraiser:
- Effort: Is an explanation included with the appraisal? Did the appraiser include sources? Does the appraisal have a history of doing a lot of research before offering an appraisal? Etc.
- Education: How long has this appraiser been studying this asset class? How successful is this appraiser? How many appraisals has this appraiser given in the past? Etc.
We don't believe that the solution to this problem is less appraisals (e.g., barriers to appraise due to restrictions on appraisers) unless they're clearly malicious. It seems more productive to make it clearer and easier to determine how much effort someone has taken to offer an appraisal and their credentials to offer an appraisal.
If any appraisers are being blatantly malicious, then please
report it to us; their activities will likely be in violation of
rule 1.2.
Related:
https://www.namepros.com/threads/can-we-sort-out-the-appraisal-section.1205209/page-2#post-7950895
Cc
@NickB,
@johnn