Litigation Services

Retrospective appraisals (effective date of the appraisal prior to the date of the report) may be required for property tax matters, estate or inheritance tax matters, condemnation proceedings, suits to recover damages, and similar situations.

In those instances where the subject property was sold or expropriated as at the retrospective effective date, gsi contemplates the likely development potential of the site had it remained “as is”. This exercise requires an in-depth analysis of likely land use patterns and schemes on a hypothetical basis with consideration to planning policies in force at the retrospective date and occurrences thereafter.

A retrospective appraisal is complicated by the fact that the appraiser already knows what occurred in the market after the effective date of the appraisal. Data subsequent to the effective date may be considered in developing a retrospective value as a confirmation of trends that would reasonably be considered by a buyer or seller as of that date. The appraiser should determine a logical cut-off date because at some point distant from the effective date, the subsequent data will not reflect the relevant market. This is a difficult determination to make and requires the kind of experience offered by the professionals at gsi. Studying the market conditions as of the date of the appraisal assists the appraiser in judging where he or she should make this cut-off date. In the absence of evidence in the market that data subsequent to the effective date was consistent with and confirmed market expectations as of the effective date, the effective date should be used as the cut-off date for data considered by the appraiser.