Glossary

Comparable sales

Recent sales of similar nearby properties — the evidence an assessment appeal is usually built on.

An assessment appeal argues that similar properties sold for less than your property is assessed at. The strength of that argument is the strength of the comparisons. Genuine comparables are recent, nearby, and similar in size, age and condition. Distressed sales, family transfers and teardowns are routinely discounted by assessing authorities, and including one weakens the rest of a list rather than lengthening it. A median of several sales is more defensible than an average, because a small sample lets one unusual transaction pull an average a long way. Assessing offices reason in medians for the same reason.

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