Swango Award.

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Stephen F. Fanning, MAI, John A. Blazejack, MAI, CRE, FRICS, and George R. Mann, MAI, MRICS, are the winners of the 2011 Swango Award and a $3000 honorarium for their article, "Price versus Fundamentals--From Bubbles to Distressed Markets," published in the Spring 2011 issue of The Appraisal Journal.

The Appraisal Journal presents the Swango Award to the best article published during the previous year on residential, general, or technology-related topics, or for original research of benefit to real estate analysts and valuers. The article must be written by an appraisal practitioner. Articles are judged based on practicality and usefulness in addressing issues faced by appraisers in their day-to-day practice; logical analysis, perceptive reasoning, and clarity of presentation; and soundness of methodology used, especially in an area of original research.

In "Price versus Fundamentals--From Bubbles to Distressed Markets," Fanning, Blazejack, and Mann, examine two different economic concepts: (1) the capital transaction market (buy/sell transaction market) and (2) the fundamental value of property use. This article shows that these economic concepts can have differing value indications when either market is in great flux. The problem is the two market segments are vacillating, at times with some interaction with each other, and at other times independent of each other. When the data overlaps are not correctly recognized or analyzed, the value conclusions can be uncertain. The authors suggest the solution may be to pick not just one market segment to use in a valuation--transaction data only or fundamental data only--but to know when to use data from each market segment, when to mix and when not to mix the data, and when to use the two different market segments to check results gained from the other.

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Stephen F. Fanning, MAI, CRE, AICP, has been in the real estate and city planning field for over thirty years, including the last twenty-five years as owner of a consulting firm in Denton, Texas, specializing in planning, market analysis, and real estate appraisals. Fanning has been an instructor and author for the Appraisal Institute for twenty-five years, with emphasis on market analysis, and highest and best use. He received the President's Award in 2011 in recognition of his commitment to the Appraisal Institute, and he is a past winner of The Appraisal Journal's Armstrong Award.

John A. Blazejack, MAI, CRE, FRICS, is president of Blazejack & Company Real Estate Counselors, a Miami-based counseling and valuation firm founded in 1988. He is a graduate of Florida State University and has a MSM in real estate from Florida International University. Blazejack has been an instructor for the Appraisal Institute, teaching market analysis courses for twenty-five years.

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George R. Mann, MAI, MRICS, is managing director of Collateral Evaluation Services, LLC, and has with a total of twenty-four years of valuation experience: four years as an independent fee appraiser, two years as a real estate assessor, and eighteen years with banking institutions. Mann graduated from the University of Florida and earned his MBA from Averett University. He has published articles in the RMA Journal and The Appraisal Journal. He has appraised and reviewed all types of commercial real estate in over thirty-five states and seven foreign countries.