Is real property appraisal evolving, or have all of the "big ideas" already been conceived? This question has been circulating among the leaders of the Appraisal Institute during the past several annual meetings, usually encountering little in the way of satisfying answers. This is not too surprising, because grand ideas and new knowledge do not typically evolve from off-hand conversation. They are the product of focused intellectual activity and hours of difficult work.

This unquenched thirst for new knowledge is the primary reason for assembling this collection of new manuscripts...

Real Estate Valuation Theory is organized around five categories of intellectual contribution to the whole-appraiser decision making and valuation accuracy, application of nontraditional appraisal techniques such as regression and the minimum-variance grid method, appraising contaminated property, ad valorem tax assessment, and new perspectives on traditional appraisal methods. One common thread is that all of the papers are exceptionally well written and thought provoking.