The Case for Decision Trees in Partition Actions

Roger J. Brown, PhD¹

Dr. Brown’s extensive resume includes forty years’ experience negotiating investment real estate sales, exchanges and leases; originating and servicing mortgage loans; fiduciary responsibilities of a general partner; expert witness in civil litigation; writing and teaching in the field of real estate finance, appraisal, taxation, analysis, and management; general manager of a firm established in 1967 that has had as many as 100 employees; and supervision of all aspects of finance, legal, and accounting administration for investment portfolios.

I. INTRODUCTION

Why is it that machines learn and people do not? This provocative, if argumentative, question is at the heart of this article. In privately held real estate investments, a problem arises when parties cannot agree on the management or disposition of a property owned in common. Differences of opinion on the future path for the property can arise due to the passage of time or some other event, such as the illness or death of a partner.²