Comparables - Match Criteria Section Description
Comparison Criteria
Adjustable Comparison Criteria allows users to expand or narrow the number of properties matched and used for all comparison calculations (including averages values and estimated prices ranges) by specifying the characteristics of the properties which should be taken into account for comparison. Click on each criteria to see available settings in the drop down and select the one you’re interested in: as soon you make a selection the system will hide the properties which don’t match the setting and re-calculate all values automatically. The properties removed from comparison will be greyed out in Comparable Properties section.
Important: If your criteria start out too narrow, you may find no Comparables that match. To get more “comparable properties” in this list, you can set these criteria to a wider area, a longer time frame, with many criteria set to “Ignore”. (Eg. Ignore Lot Size, Ignore Bedrooms, Ignore Bathrooms). If you find many comparables, you can start to narrow those criteria down.
Note: This report includes a maximum of 30 matches at a time. If there are more than 30 matches, or if some matches have notable differences from the subject property despite matching criteria, the less similar matching properties may be removed from the Comparables Property list. This may be confusing if a user knows of a recent sale in the area that isn’t showing…..often that sale just isn’t a very close match to the Subject Property. Adjusting Criteria may allow you to reintroduce some of those missing Comparable properties.
When you’re changing the Criteria parameters, iMapp still uses the same list of Comparable properties for calculations: if you get 30 properties in your list and after changing the parameters in Comparison Criteria 25 were hidden and only 5 left, so the system will use only these 5 matching properties for the calculations. If you want to update Comparable Properties list to get more items which match your parameters, click the button Update Criteria in Comparison Criteria section. Comparable Properties list will be updated and if there are more properties which correspond to your selections you’ll see new items added to the list.
Once the Comparison Criteria were set up to custom, next time you open Comparable Properties they will not set back to default, but your previously set parameters will be used.
Property Usage
By default, the Comparables Report matches only comparable properties that are the same property use as the subject property (i.e. if the Subject property is a Single Family Residence, so will all matching comparables). This is usually preferred, but there my be time when users want to broaden this match, such as for commercial properties and other that have fewer matches that have sold recently, or those in very rural areas. Users can change this setting to matches with "Similar Property Use" to broaden the matches somewhat, of choose "Include All Properties" to use any possible recent sale. Note: If you broaden your results, please review matching comparables carefully to ensure they suit your purpose. The resulting comparable list will still be ranked based on similarity.
The following comparison criteria area available for most properties. In certain locations or for certain classes of properties some of the criteria may be disabled or there may be limited search options. For example, if the subject property is vacant land you will not be able to select building details such as living area, year built, etc. This is by design as a property with a building is not a good match to a vacant property. The default settings for these options are meant to allow for a balance of the number of properties returned while ensuring good quality matches.
- Lot Size If available, this will compare the total lot area to the subject property. Condos will not have a lot size so this will not be an option for condos.
- Building Area/Living Area If available, this will compare the living area (heated area) of the property relative to the subject properties. Not available for vacant land.
- Distance This is the search area included. You can expand or contract the radius plus select other options such as in same subdivision. This option is good if you would like to limit comps for a condo to only units in the same development.
- Sale Date This will limit matches to only those sold during the listed time frame.
- Year Built This is normally ignored. In certain regions it may be useful to include only properties of roughly the same age.
- Bathrooms This is also normally ignored. Even if you ignore criteria the results will be ranked based on how similar the properties are in all fields. This is mostly used to exclude dissimilar values if you are not seeing a lot of properties with the same number of bathrooms.
- Bedrooms Similar to bathrooms.
- Waterfront In certain regions valuation changes dramatically based on the waterfront status. Again, generally only used if there are a lot of dissimilar properties showing up.
- Stories
- Garage
- Pool
- Included Results The options allows you to choose from the pool of potential properties to use for selecting comparables. By default we pull from all possible sales. If you have access to MLS data in the local area this will include MLS-reported sales. Users with MLS access also will see the option to only use MLS-listed sales and active listings.
- Property Use Select only properties based on if they have the same Use Type, broader Similar Use Types, or Any Use Type.