A comparable in the same subdivision sold 11 months ago; a comparable two miles away sold last month. Choosing between them requires:
Correct Answer
C) Weighing which adjustment — time or location — is better supported
Why this is correct: The appraiser must analyze which adjustment—for time or location—is better supported by market data. Neither factor automatically overrides the other; the choice depends on the quality of available evidence. Why the other choices are wrong: It is not correct to always prefer the newer sale or the closer sale, as adjustments can be made for both time and location. Excluding both comparables is not required; a wider search may be needed, but these can still be used if adjustments are supported. Exam tip: Use the best-supported adjustment. The goal is reliable market evidence, not a rigid rule.
Why This Is the Correct Answer
The right analysis compares the quality of the evidence behind each required adjustment, not the labels on the two dissimilarities. An adjustment you can derive from market data introduces little error, while an adjustment you must estimate introduces a lot, so the sale needing the better-supported adjustment carries more weight. This is also what makes the conclusion defensible in review, since the appraiser can point to the data behind each correction. Option C states exactly that reasoning.
Why the Other Options Are Wrong
Option A: Always preferring the newer sale, since time is the largest variable
Preferring the newer sale automatically assumes time is the largest source of error, which is only true in rapidly moving markets. In a flat market an eleven-month-old sale may need almost no time adjustment at all, while a two-mile move can cross into a different school attendance zone, tax jurisdiction, or price tier. The word 'always' signals the flaw.
Option B: Always preferring the closer sale, since location cannot be adjusted
The claim that location cannot be adjusted is false; location adjustments are routinely derived from paired sales and from price-per-square-foot differentials between competing neighborhoods. Proximity is a useful proxy for similarity but not a substitute for analysis, and adjacent neighborhoods can differ sharply in value. The option overstates a good instinct into a rigid rule.
Option D: Excluding both and searching a wider radius for a perfect match
Searching for a perfect match discards two usable comparables and usually ends in a wider radius or an older date, which means larger adjustments rather than smaller ones. Perfect comparables do not exist; the approach is built on adjusting imperfect ones. Widening the search may be a reasonable supplement, but excluding both of these is not required and would weaken the analysis.
Best Evidence Wins
Neither closer nor newer wins by default; the best-supported adjustment wins. Ask which correction you could defend in a review with actual data behind it, and that comparable earns the weight. Data beats geography and data beats the calendar.
How to use: When a stem forces a choice between two imperfect comparables, ignore any option containing 'always' and look for the one that makes the decision turn on the quality of supporting evidence. That pattern answers nearly every comparable-selection question on the exam.
Exam Tip
There is no ranking rule that makes proximity beat recency or recency beat proximity; treat any option asserting one as a distractor.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- -Adopting a personal rule that the most recent sale is always the best comparable regardless of market movement
- -Treating location as unadjustable and therefore over-relying on proximity
- -Rejecting usable comparables in search of a perfect match, which usually forces larger adjustments elsewhere
Concept Deep Dive
Analysis
This question tests comparable selection when no candidate is superior on every dimension, which is the normal condition in real assignments. One sale is perfect on location and stale on time; the other is current on time and two miles away on location. Neither element of comparison outranks the other as a matter of theory, and there is no hierarchy in the Standards that says proximity beats recency or the reverse. What decides the question is evidentiary: which adjustment can the appraiser actually support with data? If a robust time study exists from repeat sales or from listing-to-sale trends, the older in-subdivision sale becomes highly usable. If the two-mile market is well documented and the location differential is measurable, the newer sale becomes the better choice. The appraiser should generally use both and reconcile, weighting each by the reliability of the adjustment it requires.
Background Knowledge
You need the elements of comparison and the understanding that market conditions and location are two among several, with no fixed priority. You should also know that the credibility of a comparable depends on how well its required adjustments can be supported, and that reconciliation weights comparables by reliability rather than simply averaging them.
Real-World Application
An appraiser working a subject in a stable market has one in-tract sale from eleven months ago and one from a competing subdivision last month. Because MLS data shows median prices essentially flat over the year, the time adjustment is small and well supported, so the in-tract sale receives the greater weight in reconciliation.
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