{"id":1183,"date":"2026-06-12T13:11:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T13:11:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=1183"},"modified":"2026-06-12T13:11:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T13:11:15","slug":"americans-deserve-fair-real-estate-appraisal-standards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=1183","title":{"rendered":"Americans deserve fair real estate appraisal standards"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Having done real estate transactions based on federal and state government appraisals, working both with and opposed to federal and state appraisers, I say the time has arrived for the American federal government to institute new standards and simple but important changes to appraisal methodologies.\u00a0\u00a0The current methodologies are simply unfair, and American private property rights are suffering.<\/p>

Read more Shared streets, unshared values<\/a><\/p>\n

The first rule of real estate is \u201clocation, location, location,\u201d and the second rule of real estate is \u201creal estate markets are local.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Federal appraisal methodologies do not often incorporate these two fundamental pillars of private market real estate transactions into their evaluations.\u00a0\u00a0The time is ripe for the Trump administration to bring common sense to how American citizens are compensated in real estate transactions involving our government.<\/p>\n

Federal appraisers, especially, pride themselves on having opaque, ultra-complicated methodologies that almost never square with the living, breathing, active real estate market staring them in the face and in which they are seeking to participate.\u00a0\u00a0Appraisers will brag about having done three back flips, a somersault, and a triple twist double gainer for their mathematical evaluation methodology, as if that convolution is something to be proud of.\u00a0\u00a0These complicated calculations are unnecessary.\u00a0\u00a0They make up for lack of accuracy with a pile of fancy-sounding fluff.<\/p>\n

One example of this methodological failure is appraisers\u2019 unwillingness to include most natural resource assets that are part of the property under scrutiny, such as standing timber, potential commercial water sources, and even minerals.\u00a0\u00a0Some appraisers, under some conditions, will include some minerals, such as proven coal seams that have been drilled and core sampled.\u00a0\u00a0But overall, when it comes to compensating private landowners for the multifaceted values of their property, in either willing-seller government transactions or in government eminent domain takings, government appraisals miss the mark more often than hitting anywhere near it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Another well known weak point in government appraisals is the unwillingness to account for the value of a given location.\u00a0\u00a0All business locations are unique, and good locations are superior and worth more than others.\u00a0\u00a0When taken through eminent domain for a highway project, a going commercial enterprise on the corner of a busy intersection will not be compensated for the value of its key physical position in the market place.\u00a0\u00a0Rather, the value of that real estate will likely be determined by other commercial enterprises in distant markets, with no application to the local market and to the unique physical position that made the going concern a success to begin with.\u00a0\u00a0When the recipient of subsequent government funds from the eminent domain action goes to replace his former corner lot business, he finds that he is short of cash to buy a similar location that would reinstate his business on a similar perch, and thus attract business as it did before the government confiscated it.<\/p>\n

This is a simple policy failure, resulting in unconstitutional, uncompensated taking from private citizens.\u00a0\u00a0Their, our,\u00a0your<\/em>, private property rights are being ransacked by these phony appraisal methodologies.\u00a0\u00a0It is brutally unfair.\u00a0<\/p>

Read more Meet the Red Rabbits<\/a><\/p>\n

Fixes are easy. Just from a position of newfound honesty, government appraisers can admit that their methodologies do not come close to capturing the reality of private markets, nor the dollar values signed over to Americans whose private real estate has been ripped from their unwilling hands.\u00a0\u00a0Appraisal forms can have checkboxes for the presence of minerals and other natural resources, either proven or suspected; standing timber; and the special value of the unique location being appraised.\u00a0\u00a0Basic values on a scale of one to ten can then be assigned to each checked box and then used as multipliers.<\/p>\n

If government appraisals cannot reflect the basic dynamics of private market real estate transactions, either in honest simplicity or in true market value, then they must be scrapped, and a new approach must be developed.\u00a0\u00a0The current system is not fair to the American citizen.<\/p>\n

It cannot be a coincidence that the vast majority of federal and state real estate acquisitions, especially eminent domain actions, find the private citizen coming up short and the government unethically pocketing the nice bonus.\u00a0\u00a0One project I am dealing with involves a federal agency that, through aggressive eminent domain, took a lot of valuable subsurface rights \u2014 oil, minerals, and coal in an area where they are known to exist \u2014 and did not bother to calculate their value, nor compensate the private owners for their loss.\u00a0\u00a0The federal government simply wrote the private subsurface rights into the new government deeds.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration is re-calibrating so many interfaces between the government and the citizens, and this appraisal business is a real rubber-meets-the-road opportunity.<\/p>\n

Josh First is a two-bit real estate investor, a conservationist, and a conservative activist in Pennsylvania.\u00a0\u00a0He did not fill his spring gobbler tag.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>

Read more The Liberal Call of the Wild<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Image via PickPik.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Having done real estate transactions based on federal and state government appraisals, working both with and opposed to federal and state appraisers, I say the time has arrived for the American federal government to institute new standards and simple but important changes to appraisal methodologies.\u00a0\u00a0The current methodologies are simply unfair, and American private property rights […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1181,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-housing"],"yoast_head":"\nAmericans deserve fair real estate appraisal standards - Interstate Logistics Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=1183\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Americans deserve fair real estate appraisal standards - Interstate Logistics Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Having done real estate transactions based on federal and state government appraisals, working both with and opposed to federal and state appraisers, I say the time has arrived for the American federal government to institute new standards and simple but important changes to appraisal methodologies.\u00a0\u00a0The current methodologies are simply unfair, and American private property rights […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=1183\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Interstate Logistics Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-12T13:11:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/8cb7307a2ca21345ad575ac18eace79a.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"516\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/?p=1183#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/?p=1183\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/93038961905b9b4e826fad647449a9a4\"},\"headline\":\"Americans deserve fair real estate appraisal standards\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-12T13:11:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/?p=1183\"},\"wordCount\":824,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/?p=1183#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/24842b5550c9987eadc501f43565f70f.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Economy\",\"Housing\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/?p=1183#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/?p=1183\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/?p=1183\",\"name\":\"Americans deserve fair real estate appraisal standards - Interstate Logistics Hub\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/?p=1183#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/?p=1183#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/24842b5550c9987eadc501f43565f70f.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-12T13:11:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/93038961905b9b4e826fad647449a9a4\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/?p=1183#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/?p=1183\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/?p=1183#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/24842b5550c9987eadc501f43565f70f.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/24842b5550c9987eadc501f43565f70f.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":968},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/?p=1183#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Americans deserve fair real estate appraisal standards\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Interstate Logistics Hub\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/93038961905b9b4e826fad647449a9a4\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Americans deserve fair real estate appraisal standards - Interstate Logistics Hub","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=1183","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Americans deserve fair real estate appraisal standards - Interstate Logistics Hub","og_description":"Having done real estate transactions based on federal and state government appraisals, working both with and opposed to federal and state appraisers, I say the time has arrived for the American federal government to institute new standards and simple but important changes to appraisal methodologies.\u00a0\u00a0The current methodologies are simply unfair, and American private property rights […]","og_url":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=1183","og_site_name":"Interstate Logistics Hub","article_published_time":"2026-06-12T13:11:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":516,"url":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/8cb7307a2ca21345ad575ac18eace79a.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=1183#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=1183"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/#\/schema\/person\/93038961905b9b4e826fad647449a9a4"},"headline":"Americans deserve fair real estate appraisal standards","datePublished":"2026-06-12T13:11:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=1183"},"wordCount":824,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=1183#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/24842b5550c9987eadc501f43565f70f.jpg","articleSection":["Economy","Housing"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=1183#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=1183","url":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=1183","name":"Americans deserve fair real estate appraisal standards - Interstate Logistics Hub","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=1183#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=1183#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/24842b5550c9987eadc501f43565f70f.jpg","datePublished":"2026-06-12T13:11:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/#\/schema\/person\/93038961905b9b4e826fad647449a9a4"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=1183#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=1183"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=1183#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/24842b5550c9987eadc501f43565f70f.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/24842b5550c9987eadc501f43565f70f.jpg","width":1200,"height":968},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=1183#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Americans deserve fair real estate appraisal standards"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/","name":"Interstate Logistics Hub","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/#\/schema\/person\/93038961905b9b4e826fad647449a9a4","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com"],"url":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}