Opinion ID: 2513883
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Kenai lots

Text: James also relied on Richter to testify about the value of the parties' Kenai lots. Recent tax assessments had valued the ten lots at between $8,700 and $15,400. Richter estimated their value at $7,000 to $16,000 but qualified these estimates by stating that, because of their rural recreational nature, the lots would have to be sold on terms and could not be expected to sell all in one year. Accordingly, Richter maintained, it was necessary to perform a discounted cash flow analysis; he did so using two different discount rates, both resulting in substantial decreases in value. The trial court rejected Richter's testimony and adopted the lots' assessed values. On appeal, James contends that the superior court erred in relying on the tax appraisals and in rejecting Richter's discounted cash analysis. In other procedural contexts, we have made it clear that [t]ax appraisals do not reliably measure true value. [24] But here, the parties did not dispute the accuracy of the tax appraisals as a starting point for valuation; the only real dispute was whether the assessed value needed to be discounted. In her trial brief, Dolores offered the tax assessments as her evidence establishing the value of the Kenai lots. James did not object to the admissibility of the assessments and did not offer alternative values for the lots or any values, for that matter, in his trial brief. And at trial, James's expert, Richter, adopted similar values as his starting point for calculating the lots' discounted values. If any appreciable error occurred, then, it arose not from the court's acceptance of the lots' assessed values but from its rejection of Richter's cash discount analysis. As with the Stony River Lodge, however, the trial court found Richter's testimony incredible. Thus, our review of the court's findings concerning the Kenai lots is governed by the same narrow test we applied in reviewing the court's findings concerning the Stony River Lodge. Because neither party objected to the admission of the tax assessments to establish value, because the court's credibility determination is supported by the record, and because the value assigned to the lots is within the range of evidence presented at trial, [25] we conclude that the trial court's valuation of the Kenai lots is not clearly erroneous.