Who is Jason Wagner?

To understand who I am, some context is required. There are three general principles/mindsets/frameworks that I strive to keep at the forefront of my mind. They are applicable to all human beings. In fact, they relate intimately to real estate as well. Let’s dive in.

“Between stimulus (or someone doing or saying something to us) and our response to that stimulus, there is a space. In that space is our greatest freedom…the freedom to choose our response.” – Viktor Frankl. I first ran across this quote in a book titled, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The quote is from Viktor Frankl, an Austrian neurologist, psychologist, philosopher, and Holocaust survivor. Dr. Frankl lost all of his family members in the Holocaust. While experiencing these horrendous events, Frankl was a light to other prisoners and even some of the guards. His life and work are more than worthy of all of our study. What he is essentially saying in this quote is, we have the ability and must strive to slow down and intentionally choose actions/responses guided by our reason.

Reciprocity is the second framework. It is a social norm in psychology that describes the tendency to respond to a positive action with a similar or equivalent action. I first learned about reciprocity from a book titled, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini, PH.D. As a side note, I highly recommend both of these books for study. As for reciprocity, when given a gift/complement/etc from another person, as a human being we feel compelled to give something in return.

These two principles/mindsets, when paired together provide a powerful description for the core characteristics of a human being. As a human being, we can create good with a positive action regardless of the stimulus, or what someone says or does to us. This also positions our individual emotions versus our reason. Striving to use our reason even in the most stressful moments where we want to let our emotions control our actions is the objective. The conclusion is that each and every one of us human beings is a creator, a creator of moments, environments, relationships, and of more tangible things like dinners or coffee, spreadsheets, systems, and oh so many things.

One Monday morning, I was driving to work. It was a cooler morning in the early spring. I did have my favorite music playing. But admittedly, I was running a little behind. It was rush-hour, of course! Grr! I need to turn right onto the highway and merged into the far-right lane to turn right on the highway service/frontage road. Looking in my driver-side mirror, I could see that the line to turn right was becoming very long. Then I see a car jump out of the line pretty far back. We all know the intention of this driver. The car accelerated quickly and slowed to the speed of my car with the trunk of his vehicle parallel with my hood and the driver turned on their right turn signal to merge in front of me. RIGHT HERE in this moment, what would I choose? Would I choose to let this driver in, or scoot up and allow no room for this driver to merge - reigning my judgement of their apparent unjust action based solely on my perception. Has this driver acted in an unjust manner? Maybe. Or maybe it’s a husband whose wife is in labor in the passenger seat? Or it’s a dad whose child is injured and trying to get to the hospital? Am I right to not let the driver in? If I don’t, what do I expect the consequences to be? The driver could be upset and take that attitude to their next destination. They could be desperate and make a decision that causes a vehicular accident that physically harms someone. If I do let them in, what are the consequences?

That’s fantastic, Jason, but where are we going with all of this? To this point, I hope that these two principles (power to overcome emotions and make a decision based on reason AND that decision will have an impact, or a response from its recipient) will reside with you as they are two of the three keys to living a joy-filled life of fulfillment. Okay, to answer what is the third key, I submit the following question: What is a fulfilled life orientated towards? Asked further, what standard are we using to measure our decisions? Both are deep and interesting questions, to say the least. Yet, they should be firmly and constantly on the minds of all human beings. To answer these, I submit to one of the great writers and thinkers from antiquity, Aristotle.

Aristotle's ethics, primarily explored in his Nicomachean Ethics, centers on the concept of eudaimonia, often translated as happiness or flourishing, which is the ultimate goal of human life. This state is achieved through the development of virtue (both moral and intellectual virtues) and living a life guided by reason.

It is easy to see that there are a lot of hurting people in the world, and for a number of very valid and real reasons. There are people who are lost with no orientation of where their life is taking them nor what steps to take next. Because we are all human beings, we share up to a certain level in characteristics and motivations. However, we depart in how we create. No two people have all the exact same life experiences or responses to those life experiences. Thus, we approach each of our individual circumstances in life differently. Our responses are different because our experiences are different. At the same time, we are all human beings and searching for eudaimonia. Helping our brother and sister human beings reach such eudemonia is the orientation. How? By striving to develop virtue and a life guided by reason.

What does all this have to do with “who is Jason Wagner?”, and my role as an appraiser of real estate? Real estate’s most fundamental demand driver is human beings. Without human beings, real estate does not exist nor does it need to exist. Therefore, real estate exists for human beings, and I’d argue for their flourishing. Our flourishing, many times, occurs inside of real estate. In a Introduction to Green Building Valuation course, the author indicates that the role of cleaner air within buildings could lead to an impact on the value. All of these topics play a role in my life as well as the roles in which I serve.

Hi! My name is Jason Wagner and like you, I am a human being. I strive for growth in virtue and living a life guided by reason. My objective is to intentionally create content that encourages others to strive for their own mastery and growth. Not only that, I hope that through my actions and writing (in appraisals/consulting reports, and out) that at least some words reside with the readers and causes a re-orientation to grow in virtue while helping others do the same.

I am a husband and a father, and understand that I get one shot to be excellent in these roles. The influence of a husband and father is one of significant impact. Practically, what this means is conducting a routine self-examine of how I can improve/strive for mastery of my responses in each of the roles I serve. These foundational relationships play right into my professional roles as they set a standard. I am one person, who serve in roles that can be classified as personal and professional. The personal relationships teach me about communication, among many other things. As you know, communication is a foundational characteristic of serving as an appraiser. In saying this, I want to be excellent and am determined to do so in the following roles:

• Extended family member and friend

• A real estate valuation practitioner

• A real estate valuation teacher to those in my care and the public at large

• An orienting, ordering, and proactive teacher to those in my care and the public at large

• A variety of volunteer roles

• A continued student of real estate

• A continued student of humanity, the interactions of people in a variety of environments and capacities

• A continued student of psychology, philosophy, classical education, self-improvement, among others

I grew up working in my family’s construction business, and have been around real estate my whole life. It started with more hands-on the real estate early on. But as I studied and read, my interest in finance grew. From there, my interest was refined by combining real estate and finance, which led me to Texas A&M University’s Land Economics and Real Estate program and the commercial real estate valuation industry. For the last few years, my reading and studying has expanded to the space users/business owners (human beings) themselves, how they can move from good to great, how they can hone their interactions with the people they serve, how their improvement in virtue improves their business and bottom line, which impacts the value of real estate.

I continue to enjoy creating and building things. I enjoy consulting and advising on learned perspectives. I enjoy spending time with people and hearing their stories, learning the Mandarin language with my kids, how to code in Python, building up my ice hockey skills, and creating impactful value-add systems, all with virtue in mind and in hopes of making a difference in the world. 

As a side note and in addition to reciprocity, priming and anchoring are also other applicable effects where real estate can play a role in our lives.