King's English

[RVS SanDiego]

Dear Joan

My respond to your concern that appraisers make some typo , misspelled , not articulate and are not in the level of communication that you expecting from your colleague, I will tell you that for me it is very difficult to type and express my thought in articulate way, and you know why ? because English is my second language so do you think I am not intelligent enough or dont know how to be clear or articulate when I am writing my reports :?: Please dont judge the members in this forum by the way they express their opinions and views. You should be more open , patience and more lenient for people like me and I dont need to apologize every time when I make some mistakes. Lets look for more constructive discussion and be less grim. :wink: I can tell you part of our quality control and before we release any report from our office we using the speller , and taking all the measures necessary to make sure that the reports will go out with no grammar or spelling errors . In this forum we are not going to write our demonstration report :lol: :lol: :lol: and no one will be graded for not be less then perfect. So please be patience with the members and particirly with people like me with some difficulty to express their views without making some mistakes. I am sure you are not perfect and neither do I . In this article you going to find a bunch of errors , miss spelling and grammar. :idea: :idea: By the way try to respond to my comment in Hebrew let's see how many grammar and spelling error I will find :wink: :wink:

Have a nice day
8) 8)
Gady Amor, IFA

 

[Richard Carlsen]

It is interesting you bring this up.

It has always been a hang-up of mine. I am a lousy speller. Ever since I lost the 3rd grade spelling bee to Charles Vandersal in that pre-Ike era, I have had trouble spelling. Okay, so there is something blocking me. But I am fairly good at conveying my thoughts and ideas with the language. Judy, (my wife and office manager) on the other hand, remembers a word by how it is spelled. In the 10 years that I’ve known her, I think there was one time I’ve seen her misspell a word. So what does that prove?

It proves nothing. Sure some are good writers and spellers, some are good spellers and poor writers, some a good writers and poor spellers, etc. We are many different kinds.

While it is nice to have exact and correct spelling, sentence structure, syntax, with no dangling participles etc., the essence of this board is the exchange of ideas.

If someone refrains from posting and thus withholds an idea, because of criticism of spelling, grammar, etc. we as participants have been denied the airing of that idea. And that, IMNSHO is not right.

Sure, we appraisers are great spellers and grammarians. We are also lousy spellers and have trouble with sentence structure. So what? We are here for the exchange of ideas on appraising and work and play.

It would be my choice that nobody be chastised or commented on for how they post. If it bothers you, don’t read it. At least, the poster will have the opportunity to exchange ideas. That is more important than how it is written.

Just a few thoughts this snowy morning. And long live spellchecker!


Richard Carlsen

 

[Tim Hicks (Texas)]

I would not worry about it. The people making complaints about grammar and spelling on a informal web site must have too much time on their hands. I see no link between posting on this forum regarding the quality of report an appraiser will have.

 

[xmrdfghap]

that I’ve known her, I think there was one time I’ve seen

<span style='color:brown'>Richard, it is nice to see someone else using Wordperfect to compose their posts... :roll: ...Wordperfect uses a code to describe an apostrophe (').....so when you cut and paste, you might want to look for and eliminate the "I&#8217"

:lol:

Not for the typo, but just so it won't detract from yout thoughts.

Greg</span>

 

[Austin]

I took the AI class in report writing about ten years ago. The teacher was a professor of English and creative writing from the U. of Colorado. The only thing I remember from the class was this professor telling us that the prerequisite for good writing was good thinking. He said there never has been a good writer that was not a good thinker and that good writing was nothing more than good thinking in print. My personal experience on the subject is just the opposite to some degree. Some of the biggest idiots I have ever encountered were the best spellers and writers you can imagine. I would revise the professor’s remarks and say that good thinkers are all good writers, but good writers are not necessarily all good thinkers. My grandfather use to say that God created some intelligent people and then felt so sorry for the ones that were not as gifted and compensated for the deficiency by giving them the gift of being articulate speakers. Now, I have really found that to be true.

 

[Robert Dunkle]

Well, I don't wish to make anybody mad on the new forum, BUT I spent considerable time this afternoon talking to a UW who indicated that MOST of the reports she reads SUCK as far as grammar, spelling, thought process. I don't consider myself to be any more than fair when it comes to grammar and logical thought processes (spell checker, I have, for typos, etc.), but she complimented me (without me even fishing for a compliment) on the professional way my report looked and read. Said that most of the reports she sees are difficult to follow because of poor grammar, poor spelling and/or illogical thought processes. She also complimented me because I would not bow down before the LO and state that trash and other safety hazards on the property did not exist. They are not going to make the loan, because I reported (with pictures) thousands of wooden pallets stacked around a 3 acre residential property, now rotting and grown up with weeds and infested with all kinds of varmints. The LO wanted me to say that they had been removed so they could close the loan. She "promised" that the owners would remove them as soon as the drought was over/the ground hardened up/whatever!! I didn't think that I wanted to go out there and remove them in my spare time after the loan goes bust.

 

[Theresa in Oregon]

My goodness, isn't THIS a hot topic? I've rarely seen one that has put so many folks on the defensive. This is my first post, though I've been reading the forum threads for a number of weeks now. I think most of you are being way too hard on Joan. I don't believe she attacked anyone. Rather, I think she made a good general point. Some of the errors in grammar and spelling that appear in this forum are indeed egregious. Typos aside, one cannot help but wonder what some of these appraiser's reports look like.

Whether or not a command of the English language is indicative of one's overall intelligence - well, who's to say. I've known many a successful and intelligent business person who couldn't spell his/her way out of a sack nor could they construct a simple declarative sentence. On the other hand, I've known many an idiot who lacked these skills as well. I'm also humble enough to admit that I have cringed over a re-read of one or the other of my reports long after it has been delivered. But I will tell you this: The way in which one expresses oneself in writing makes an impression on the reader. For better or worse. Pretty much the way that one is judged in person by his/her manners, carriage and dress. Unfair? Perhaps. But it is simply a fact of life that humans will judge a book by its cover, like it or not. What intrigues me are the number of you who admit to lacking these skills yet show no interest in correcting the situation. If you did not know how to extract a gross rent multiplier, you would surely make it your business to learn, wouldn't you? If you didn't understand the theory behind a paired sales analysis, wouldn't you find out? Of course you would. So why not check out some of the fine books on grammar and improve that area of your reporting as well? Unless you report your estimate of value on a cocktail napkin, your appraisal is going to have to contain some narrative.

I am reminded of the narrative writing course I took through the Appraisal Institute a number of years ago. One of my classmates was an SRA from Tennessee. A really lovely guy and an absolute hoot. He was very intelligent and no doubt a fine appraiser. However, a couple of days into the class when he presented his first narrative draft, the instructor (an English PhD) was stunned to see that, while his analysis of the subject property was flawless and his value conclusion was right on, he had written the ENTIRE THING without using the word, "the". Not once in a whole report! He simply wrote what he thought and his thoughts didn't contain the word "the". Must have been his background as an auctioneer. The poor guy had to re-write the entire report (and he was using a typewriter, not a laptop) while the rest of us were relaxing with our beers by the pool. He claimed that none of his clients had ever complained and lord knows, he managed to acquire a designation, but I never could figure out how. Must have had an editor.

We could all use an editor sometimes, yes?

 

[Tim Hicks (Texas)]

I still say, what does posting on this forum have to do with the way a person writes an appraisal report? Making individual judgements about a person without actually seeing their work is extremely narrow minded. Me, I am just a residential form filler, but I can convey my words onto paper with proper grammar and spelling. Anybody or any one person can make a similar, broad and general statement on this forum and I would consider it prejudice and pompous. You know, women simply can't appraise as well as men. Rediculous! Commerical Appraisers are arrogant and snooty. True many times, but not a benchmark for the industry. AVM developers will denounce conventional appraisers as flawed and subject to crimial behavior. True to some extent, but generally not. Mark Twain is generally considered one of the greatest American writers of all time, but he had poor grammar in his books. Does this make him less brilliant? Give me a break. Joan just wanted to hurl an insult to justify her cause in devloping AVM's and whatever else she is into. I have no aggenda, except to point out that this forum has nothing to do with the reports that are prepared by people who post here.

 

[Theresa in Oregon]

Correct you are, Tim. Making judgments about the quality of an individual's appraisal work based solely on the quality of the grammar contained in their posts in this forum is very narrow-minded indeed. But I believe many would agree with my mom who used to say, "Sloppy is as sloppy does." Of course, mom was referring to my homework. Her point was that my teachers might conclude that my poorly-written book report (due primarily to haste come Sunday night) reflected a lack of interest and what she called, "gray matter".

God rest her soul. She was the best editor I ever had.

Gentle colleague, could Joan's post have been easier to swallow had it come from someone other than Joan? I've not been reading the forum long, but I get the general impression that Ms. Trice has kicked a lot of shins here in the past. Perhaps she should be thanked for instigating so many spirited discussions on such a variety of topics!

 

[Benjamen Brossette]

First - No one is perfect. The forum is not a work place or a school taught by Joan Trice.

Second - The forum is Joan Trice`s work place. Everyone`s mistakes is Joans life (work). Just wondering who is criticizing Joan when she is not in her perfect (non-work) place?

Third - When Joan writes a post in here it is her work. Does she make sense? NOOOO :!: There is spell check every where, You can`t pick up a brain at the 7-11 (or can you Joan?)