Typically, the purpose of a real estate appraisal is to estimate the market value of a subject property. Market value is usually defined as the most probable price that a property would sell for in the open market, all conditions requisite for a typically motivated sale being met. Implicit herein is the fact that other prices would also occur. To have a most probable something, there must be at least several alternatives. In the free market place, no commodity has a set price.
Prices vary according to the various pushes and pulls of supply and demand.
Size, quantity, location, seller motivation, buyer motivation, terms of sale, cost, profit or loss potential, competing goods and services, etc. influence price. Obviously, since different buyers and sellers have different motivations, prices will vary. In summary, it can be said that different buyers will pay different prices for the same thing and different sellers will sell the same thing for different prices. There are several ways to approach estimating value in an appraisal. Further, the larger the quantity of good comparables used, the stronger the appraisal.