Is there any reliable way to measure the outcome to see if it worked?
If we assume that the appraisals are disconnected from the winning bids*, then couldn’t one just see whether the ratio of sale:appraisal is increasing? If the appraisals are honest, then any jiggery-pokery should alter the ratio—eg. a successful manipulation will lead to people paying an average 93%, where they used to pay 90%.
that is, there is no feedback—the appraisers don’t look at recent sales and say, oh, I’ve been lowballing all my estimates! I’d better start raising them.
If we assume that the appraisals are disconnected from the winning bids*, then couldn’t one just see whether the ratio of sale:appraisal is increasing? If the appraisals are honest, then any jiggery-pokery should alter the ratio—eg. a successful manipulation will lead to people paying an average 93%, where they used to pay 90%.
that is, there is no feedback—the appraisers don’t look at recent sales and say, oh, I’ve been lowballing all my estimates! I’d better start raising them.