Michael J. Seiler

Michael Joseph Seiler is an American behavioral real estate scholar who works at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, where he is the J. Edward Zollinger Endowed Chair Professor of Finance and Real Estate. He is best known for his works in designing and conducting behavioral experiments in consumer decision-making.

Early life
Michael J. Seiler's mother, Jayne H. Seiler, was a professional artist and his father, Paul J. Seiler, was a Purple Heart Award recipient and fighter pilot in the United States Air Force and later became a commercial airline pilot with American Airlines. Michael was born in Hahn, Germany, where his father was stationed at the time. When orders came down to move back to the states, the family moved to Sebring, Florida, where he grew up.

Career
Seiler started his career as an Assistant Professor at Hawaii Pacific University in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1997. Seiler was most recently a Visiting Scholar at the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) in Washington DC and before that a Visiting Scholar at Harvard University, University of Cambridge, London School of Economics, and a Visiting Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Johns Hopkins University and the Australian National University.

Since its inception in 2015, Michael Seiler has been ranked #1 on the Real Estate Academic Leadership (REAL) rankings, which reflects the number of publications in the top three real estate journals (Real Estate Economics, Journal of Real Estate Research, and Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics) over the last five rolling year period (American Real Estate Society ). Seiler has been an expert witness for a number of real estate disputes and has been hired by legal firms and even the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

Michael further delivers keynote speaking addresses at national and international conferences on a wide array of topics that generally reflect the original results from his research. He is often quoted in national newspapers like the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, LA Times and NY Times.

In 2009, Seiler was named the William N. Kinnard Young Scholar Award winner. In 2015, Michael was named among the most Innovative Thinkers in Housing Market Research. In 2018, he was given the James A. Graaskamp Award. In 2022, Michael received the Richard Ratcliff Award. In 2024, he was awarded the David Ricardo Medal by the American Real Estate Society for his published research in academic and refereed professional journals.