Market View

Ronald — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 12:53:28 +0000

An interesting phenomenon exists in the current market across property types, namely a multitier pricing structure. At the bottom there are sales from financially stressed sellers. It may take more effort to acquire such properties, but investors in this category are clearly in the market. At the upper end of the pricing spectrum are the more traditional arm’s length sales, wherein there are no unusual stressors to sell.

Under the definition of Market Value,* appraisers are required to value properties based upon typical conditions of sale. In the current economy, some markets are seeing a prevalence of distressed sales and these sales are ‘typical,’ and thus are important in setting the overall market level. In other markets these sales are less common, and provide less significant value benchmarks. It is the appraiser’s task to be aware of the supply and demand of buyers and sellers in each of these categories, and to properly weigh the importance of transactions of each type in estimating Market Value.

At Comprehensive Appraisal Corporation we have built internal databases containing thousands of transaction benchmarks. In addition, we subscribe to industry leading sale and lease databases. These resources allow us to see widely and deeply into the markets covered. This data, in combination with our experience and knowledge, allows us to provide reliable value estimates in your specific market area.

Ronald Rubinstein, MAI
President
Comprehensive Appraisal Corp.

* Dictionary of Real Estate Appraisal (Appraisal Institute)