Joel DyckReal Broker SK Ltd.
Saskatoon · From the topic map

Does it drag my valuation down if the recent nearby sales were all-cash investor purchases?

It can, if those sales are used without adjustment. A cash investor buys for speed and certainty, often a property in poor condition, and pays accordingly. Appraisal Institute of Canada standards require the conditions of sale to be considered, so a distressed cash purchase is not automatically a comparable for a maintained home on the same block.

Ask what the sale actually was. An estate property sold as is, a foreclosure through the Court of King's Bench, a fire damaged house or a transfer between family members are all recorded transfers that say very little about open market value. Where a buyer bought for the land with demolition in mind, the recorded figure prices a lot, not a house.

Automated models are the ones that get this wrong, because they read transfer records from Information Services Corporation and cannot tell a renovation project from a turnkey home. That is exactly how a well kept house ends up with an online estimate dragged down by three neighbouring sales that had nothing in common with it beyond a postal code.

The answer is to select comparables deliberately from the last 90 days and adjust the ones you use, then document the condition difference so an appraiser can follow the reasoning later. Photographs, permits and invoices do that job. Joel Dyck's hand-reviewed valuation separates arm's length market sales from opportunistic ones and shows you which sales the number is built on.

Get your hand-reviewed valuation from Joel Dyck.

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