Why aren appraisals strictly prima facie?
This was selected as Best Answer First thing’s first: the true market value of something is almost always defined as what someone actually pays for the darn thing. Therefore, the fair appraisal for timely buyers issue isn’t generally a problem. And in the case of prior sale price, the earlier sale of the same house is a “comp” itself — it’s just that instead of occupying a different physical location, it occupies a different place in time. Indeed, the prior sale of the original house may be a better “comp” than the actual comps. Indeed, it is possible that a “stolen” comp (i.e., for well below market value) may find its way into an appraisal — and the good appraiser still knows to adjust for it. In short, “it all works out,” and a good appraiser will know what he is doing. As for appraisals themselves, and your general question — why they aren’t strictly prima facie: For one thing, reasonable appraisers do differ. Additionally, there are a number of different approaches to appraisin
