Donald Bouchard, CRE

In his generation spanning novel about the Trask and Hamilton families, John Steinbeck’s East of Eden is a great achievement in American literature. I originally read this tome when I was about eighteen years old. Unfortunately at the time I was unable to grasp some of the more subtle conflicts and deeper meanings in the story because, well, I was just a kid with limited life experience. About three years ago, I purchased the book again and this time I found the story to be remarkable and complex. I finished reading it while traveling on an airplane and at the time I was struck by a short and seemingly insignificant line: “No one wants advice…only corroboration.”

Anyone who makes a living by providing advice can certainly immediately identify with this simple but profound statement. Having been decades in the business of dispensing opinions of value, use, marketability, development potential, strategies and a variety of other types of conclusions impacting real estate, I was struck by the relevance of this quote.

When it comes to real estate, everyone seems to have strong opinions. Often the strongest held views are those held by those without any particular knowledge or insight into the field. For example when newspaper articles are published about high profile development sites or deals involving a sale or acquisition by a federal, state or municipal government, you can count on reading the deepest held opinions in the comments section, usually written by the most clearly uninformed. They can range from thought provoking or eyeball rolling, but such is life and it is a bit amusing with no harmful impacts to life, limb or property.

The corroboration problem, however, can be troublesome when a real estate professional who is acting in the role of an unbiased advisor, crosses the line and adopts and crafts an opinion that directly benefits the client. I am not talking about honest differences in opinion where two experts disagree. I am talking about blatant, unadorned bias by individuals who prostitute themselves simply to please a client or to make the almighty dollar. Do I sound angry? Yeah, you could say that.

I get disturbed when I see someone develop a report that completely ignores the realities of the market and highest and best use so that they can adopt the opinion that supports the view of their client.

I get disturbed when an appraiser develops a report for a vacant development site and ignores sales data, using only a residual approach, when only a few months later that same individual appraises a development site in the same city using land sales and says point blank “residuals are notoriously inaccurate.” What..?

I get disturbed when someone perverts the meanings of lease language so remarkably as to be at odds with the realities of past, current and future property use as laboratory space, choosing instead to value the space for industrial purposes. Why? It’s because it will save his client millions. I can offer no other explanation - it’s that blatant.

I get disturbed when someone provides me with a building condition and structural survey signed by a licensed architect and a licensed engineer. The report purports to contain twenty four photos. Ah…but what they did was to purposefully withhold fifty additional photos that followed including detailed interior shots illustrating the actual condition and fit up of the property. The clearly did not want me to see the interiors shots. How do I know? It’s because they spent an hour trashing the building interior. A copy of the engineering report received from the other party in the dispute showed that they were clearly slanting the data to support their view. The extensive number of interior photos were in direct conflict with they had told me. That is a charade and its damnable behavior leaping over an ethical “do not cross” sign with the greatest of ease.

Look, client pressure is nothing new. Individuals, law firms, and corporations who hire appraisers, with the exception of a few, are all seeking some level of corroboration. Maybe the client is clearly right…maybe not. A couple of years ago, a local appraiser told me his job in a nutshell was really to be a “professional skeptic.” Brilliant words I thought. It’s true of course, people will tell you what they want you to hear and what they want you to know. It’s our job as when we act as non-advocate professionals to fact check, test theories and provide conclusions that are supported by broader circumstances.

Again, I invite hearty disagreements and intellectual differences between consultants. As Don Imus used to say, quoting an old country song, “we all live in a two-story house.” The vast majority of real estate professionals are bright, thoughtful and very ethical. What I am talking about are those bad apples that time and time again get hired to be the advocates, the bullies and turn a blind eye to their ethical responsibilities, staining the profession while they are at it.

Am I really angry? Hmmm…nah, I think its just disgust.

Donald Bouchard, CRE is a senior vice president at Lincoln Property Company, Boston and is the 2016 chair of the New England Chapter of the Counselors of Real Estate.