Frank’s Field Notes is a space for sharing real-world observations drawn from my nearly 30 years of experience in real estate appraisal, advisory work, brokerage, and personal investment. Truth be told, my real estate journey began well before my degree was earned, as a child of the 1980s, being raised by a “real estate agent mom” and “homebuilder dad”, watching their strong work ethic as they always strived to help their clients and customers succeed.  The real estate world became my reality when I visited my academic advisor at the University of Alabama my junior year to learn that I could graduate with a Finance degree with a Concentration in Real Estate. This was a far cry from the Marine Science degree that I had declared my freshman year!  Since then, I have either appraised, provided consulting services, or have participated in brokerage for property located in every state except for Alaska and Hawaii, but it is not over!!

I became a licensed real estate salesperson in 1996 then started my appraisal career upon graduation in 1997. From there, I was afforded the ability to work for firms with a global presence, including PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Cushman & Wakefield. In 2012, I launched my own appraisal and advisory firm, Heron Valuation Group.  Currently, I conduct brokerage activity through Signature Properties, a boutique firm with a strong regional presence. In 2025, Signature Properties assisted in transactions totaling more than $195 million in volume and has maintained a consistent market presence since its formation. 

As we move into 2026, I’ve chosen to be more intentional about sharing how I think about value, risk, and timing—because those elements matter just as much in buying and selling property as they do in appraising.

The majority of my professional career has focused on commercial and investment-oriented real estate, where success is measured not by a single transaction, but by performance across the entire investment lifecycle—what happens at acquisition, how a property performs during ownership, and how value is ultimately realized at disposition. The same framework applies to tenant leasing decisions, where terms established on the front end often determine long-term outcomes.

While much of my background is rooted in commercial investment real estate, that same analytical framework translates directly to second-home and short-term rental properties, where purchase price, operating performance, and exit timing are equally critical. Based on the Gulf Coast, a market where short-term rentals represent a significant share of real estate activity, this perspective is especially relevant but often overlooked. The process of understanding how a short term rental property performs as an investment—both today and over time—matters just as much here as it does in an office high-rise in Manhattan.