Something that I like to do is to research the etymology of various words. This is essential in understanding older/historical texts, so that you can discern the usage of the word as it was intended by the author. It can be easy to merely overlay our own current usages and connotations and miss the true meaning and intent of the author’s words.
It can also be useful in providing a fresh understanding of current concepts. I recently got curious about the word ‘analysis’. As an appraiser, I use this word frequently. I found the etymology of this word, as well as its antonym, very helpful in conceptualizing what appraisal analysis really is.
According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, analysis comes from the Greek word analyein. Analyein is a compound word which combines ana- which means “up, back, throughout” with the word -lyein which means “to loosen or “to unfasten”. The imagery we then have is of a knot being untied, the strands being backed up to release them.
So then, we can view analysis as taking something which is the complex interaction of many parts and loosening those parts so that we can understand them better. By doing so, we are able to not only better understand the individual parts, but the interplay which creates the complex whole.
This image is really helpful in so many areas. Chemistry comes to mind, the analysis of matter to understand its component parts. This imagery is no less applicable in psychology. Our minds and hearts so often feel tied in knots (and indeed they are), the individual parts of our biology, personality, and experiences weaving together into complex interactions. It is the work of a therapist and their client to carefully untie those knots.
Of course, this applies to the work of real estate appraisal as well. Consider this in the context of analyzing a potential comparable sale transaction. The transaction is a complex interplay between buyer and seller. Each weaving in their own strands of rational thought, along with the cords of emotion, and tightening those into a braid with knowledge and perception.
So, are we appraisers closer to being chemists or therapists? While it’s true that we must consider the empirical evidence, like chemists in a lab, we are not able to rely on natural laws, neatly organizing the component parts on the periodic table. We must instead approach our task with the humility of knowing that with each strand we separate, there are frayed edges and broken strings. Striving to look through the microscope of empirical thought, we must not forget that our subject is more than real property, it is real people.
Imperfect though our efforts may be, we must work to untie the knot of each transaction and of the real estate market as a whole. The natural question is what do we do with all of these loose strands in the form of observations, data, statistics, and calculations? Well…we must synthesize them.
Synthesis is the antonym of analysis. The Greek syntithenai is a combination of syn- meaning “together” and -tithenai meaning “to put, to place”. So, having analyzed the appraiser must then synthesize, putting the pieces back together to create a hypothetical transaction. The hypothetical interaction of the typical buyer (who embodies the collective thought and action of the whole market of buyers) with the typical seller (who similarly embodies the collective thought and action of the whole market of sellers). The representative price of this hypothetical interaction (the product of the synthesis) is known as market value.
