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Lucky break: just in time for summer, the 13th edition of the Appraisal of Real Estate hits the shelves.

Article Excerpt
First published in 1951, The Appraisal of Real Estate has become the bible for the real estate appraisal profession. A major tome upon its arrival, it has been updated 12 times to become even more significant and remain just as timely. In addition, the recent editions have been translated into 12 languages (Hungarian, Japanese, Korean, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Spanish and Georgian). There have also been Canadian and Australian editions in an English variant. After selling 57,000 copies, the 12th edition, published in 2001, is being retired in favor of the newly revised, 13th edition.

In anticipation of the new edition being released in June, Valuation sat down with Senior Technical Writer Michael McKinley, who was responsible for overseeing the reviews and revisions and major edits, to get some insights on the new version.

Valuation: What is the reasoning behind coming out with a new edition? Why now?

McKinley: The short answer: It was time. Historically, an edition of The Appraisal of Real Estate has had a five-to seven-year shelf life, and the 12th edition came out in 2001. In the period between editions of the textbook, the language in professional standards evolves, markets change (for better or worse), and the regulatory environment may change as well. After one edition of the textbook has been in print for four years or so, the world that appraisers work in will generally have seen enough change for a conversation about...