I joined Turner Drake in 1981, just about the same time the Space Shuttle successfully returned from its inaugural flight to usher in the use of manned reusable spacecraft to return to Earth. Upon landing, I believe astronaut John Young hyped on adrenaline, proclaimed “that was a ride of a lifetime”. While my time with my colleagues at Turner Drake has been more grounded, I also consider it a ride of a lifetime; ushering in new challenges, adventures and innovations along the way.

Operating throughout Atlantic Canada and beyond, we have valued a diversity of properties from airports to smelters; pulp mills to fish plants; convents to quarries and vast tracts of moose pasture … and just about everything in between.    Valuation of real estate is not a simple task or an exacting science: it has always been a combination of art and science.  With a predominance of the former in the years gone by,  giving way to the latter as a plethora of data and technology has,  and continues, to become available. As the saying goes … everyone has an opinion on value. However it is certainly more than just producing fluff and a leap of faith.  As valuers, we have to use the tools developed to capture, analyse and make sense of demographic, economic and market factors that drive real estate values. Clients of real estate practitioners expect and deserve accurate conclusions based on sound analysis and interpretation of the evidence available.

To meet this expectation, it is incumbent on valuers to be leading the wave, not just riding it.  As more and more real estate data becomes available, i.e. published sales data, online property zoning, assessment data, financial analytical tools, etc.,  the valuer’s  time is not so much spent working as an old time private investigator travelling the region and unearthing spotty evidence but more so assimilating the available data and recognising what is relevant and applying the correct analytical tools to interpret it to produce a creditable result.  The tools we use at Turner Drake include our Compuval® Database assembled over the past 35 years comprising over 200,000 detailed property records including sales, assessment, income and expense data on properties throughout Atlantic Canada and across the country; Geographic Information Systems (GIS) databases that focus on demographic trends, land use, spatial connectivity, development patterns and the physical aspects of property; and financial analysis and projection software.  These tools together with the knowledge and skill sets of my colleagues at Turner Drake make the challenge of valuing properties a rewarding experience and as I indicated at the onset … a ride of a lifetime.

Rick Escott, Vice President of our Valuation Division and Newfoundland Operations, reflects on his last 34 years at Turner Drake.  To find out more about Rick and his adventures, check out our Facebook page!