If you think that you are qualified to complete an assignment, you may find that the client does not agree.

Cell tower site valuation is complicated by a lack of market data, lease cancellation provisions and the selection of a reasonable capitalization rate.

When you don't think the valuation that you paid for is accurate you can spend some time and effort yourself to validate the results.

Most appraisal assignments direct the appraiser to form an opinion of the market value of a specific property. If you are familiar with appraisal definitions you know that most market value definitions indicate that market value is the “most probable price” that a market participant will pay for a property. So in most instances appraisers have to consider value as an anticipation of future benefits.

As employment decreases, and the demand for office space and retail space also decreases, the number of defaulted commercial mortgages will likely increase. If large scale casino layoffs accelerate, per predictions, the impact to the commercial real estate market in Las Vegas could be significant. Office vacancy rates are already increasing toward 20% in Las Vegas, and the vacancy rate for retail properties is increasing toward 11%.

Until you have been involved in a litigation case that deals with the measurement of buildings you won't begin to appreciate just how little attention is often paid to the measurement process by builders, assessors and appraisal professionals.

Appraisers try to compare properties using uniform measurements, and area is an important physical characteristic of a property compared when land or buildings are analyzed.  Land area comparisons appear to be simplistic, until you consider why parcels sizes vary.

Ground leases offer real property owners of vacant land an opportunity to develop it without a personal out-of-pocket investment.  They can be beneficial to tenant / developers in that they do not have to invest a sizeable portion of their funds into the land.