This is a powerful episode of The Appraiser’s Advocate.  In it, Timothy C. Andersen, MAI, explores what an ancient Roman legend can teach us today.  We appraisers need to practice ethics, morality, and professional courage. “Horatius at the Bridge” by Thomas Babington Macaulay tells the story of one soldier who stood alone.  His charge was to defend Rome’s bridge against invading forces. Andersen draws a striking parallel between Horatius’s moral stand and the modern residential real estate appraiser’s duty to protect the bridge of public trust.

When clients, lenders, and market pressures push for quick or biased results, the appraiser’s courage and adherence to USPAP’s Ethics Rule become acts of modern heroism. Through vivid storytelling, Andersen weaves together virtue ethics, Aristotle’s golden mean, Aquinas’s right reasoning for the right reasons, and the sacred calling of truth-telling in valuation.

Listeners will discover why each credible appraisal is a defense of market integrity. How ethical resistance protects the profession.  And why impartiality, objectivity, and independence are not just regulatory words—but moral commitments.

Join this 12-minute journey through history, philosophy, and professionalism—and rediscover why appraisers stand as the guardians of economic justice.  Make sure your E&O Insurance is up to date and you have an administrative law attorney on your speed dial!

???? Listen now: Horatius at the Bridge — The Ethics and Morality of Courage in Real Estate Appraisal