In the grand hierarchy of real estate, appraisers, the folks who with measuring devices and Excel spreadsheets determine the worth of both the $1 million condo and the $1 billion skyscraper, occupy a relatively humble role. And yet the market presents the modest appraiser with perhaps the most existential dilemma in real estate: what is a property worth? It’s a surprisingly torturous question.
“There is a lot of pressure, a great deal of...