The Three Kinds Of Appraisals

According to my bankruptcy professor, a sitting bankruptcy judge at the time during the great Texas real estate collapse of the’80’s, there were three kinds of real estate appraisals:

 1) windshield;

 2) wild-ass; and 

3) “Hell if I know, but it looks good on paper!”

 To which we now add a third: the Ted Cruz.

I’ve been to Mar-a-Lago many times. It is a spectacular property. 

The idea that it is worth only $18 million—give Palm Beach astronomical real estate prices—is utterly idiotic. 

Only one problem there, Rafael:

It's not the judge's valuation. It's the Palm Beach County assessor's. And while $27 million is obviously an undervaluation, Mar-A-Lago can't be developed or turned into a single-family estate. Its deed requires it to remain a club, which radically reduces its re-sale value.

You’re a Harvard trained lawyer and former Solicitor-General of Texas. You do know how to read 35 page court order, right?