This book was written to combine many appraisal subjects into one text that could help business professionals better understand how to read and review them. It occurred to Dr. Pratt and me that, to our knowledge, nothing like this book was available, and this was the beginning of our collaboration to write it. The challenge was to determine how much information should be included—if there was too much, then readers might get bogged down and not be able to quickly find the information they were seeking. If it did not include enough, then readers might lack the knowledge necessary to determine the credibility of appraisals that they might encounter in their work as bankers, lawyers, accountants, real estate brokers, and other professionals.
Our hope is that we found the correct middle ground, and those who need more information can consult texts that treat the specific appraisal subject they are reviewing with more depth, and those who need less will be pleased that they can find what they need with a minimal effort because there is not an overload of material. All in all, we hope this book fills a need for those who deal with appraisals in the course of their daily business.
John Lifflander, July 2016