Adjustments for buyer motivation?

[residentialguy]

So. You have found and gridded the best comparable, you have all the data that you need to do so clearly disclosed in the MLS and public records, and nobody personally involved in the transaction will call you back. The value indicated by that comparable is consistent with all the other market value indications in your report. The buyers closed on their other home, moved out with all their possessions in a moving truck, and they are stuck staying at the only hotel in town. Said hotel is dilapidated, has no air-conditioning, the whole family has come down with lice, is being eaten up at night by bedbugs, and the 90-year-old extended family member mother waiting to move in with them is suffering heart palpitations from the heat. The only thing keeping the family from moving out of that hellhole and into their new home is "verification of your best comparable". The report was due three days ago. Would you go ahead and submit the appraisal with that comparable, even though you have not personally verified details of the transaction with someone on the phone? Or, would you exclude that comparable, because it did not meet your verification standards? What happens if there is a crooked appraiser, and they use that reasoning to exclude "the best comparable" in favor of much higher comparables, because they like the freedom which "unable to personally verify the comparable with a participant to the transaction" gives them?

I would see if the buyers have any extra cash to pay me hush money to ignore it and push it through... and if they say anything, I'd blame it on Trump. Win/Win. **puff puff pass**

Edit: seriously, the answer is the famous, "maybe". Whether or not I exclude it depends on many variables. You can use it, as long as you disclose that you didn't find out the conditions of the sale and state your due diligence in trying to find out, as well as the reasons for using it and why you think it is a reliable indicator of value. Do I really need the comp? Is the adjusted value (without conditions of sale adjustment) in line with the other adjusted comps? If it is, then you can make the logical assumption that nothing in the sale affected the value. It's kind of like that comp that you couldn't inspect. Would you use it? maybe....

2nd edit: forget the puff puff pass... you're a bogart