How Appraisers Do Their Work: A Test of the Appraisal Process and the Development of a Descriptive Model

Actual decisionmaking behavior is rarely the focus of real estate valuation research, but this paper argues the need for just such investigations and reports the results of one study. Two hypotheses concerning the relationship between the appraisal process and the actual behavior of expert appraisers are developed. An experimental test of these hypotheses reveals evidence that the behavior of expert appraisers deviates significantly from the prescribed appraisal process. Based upon the experimental observations, a model of actual expert behavior is built and compared to the prescribed model. Some implications of the observed behavioral divergence are discussed.