Before an appraiser reconciles the indications from the three approaches to reach a final value, what must be done?

• A. Reconcile within the approaches
• B. Reconcile across the approaches
• C. Compute the simple average
• D. Apply only the most reliable method

Answer: (A)

Before combining the three approaches, you first establish credible, single indications within each approach. Each method has its own data, assumptions, and adjustments, so you review and reconcile the results inside that method—resolving inconsistencies and confirming the adjustments are appropriate to produce one indicated value for that approach. Only after you’ve solidified these inside-the-approach indications do you reconcile across the approaches to form the final value, weighting each method by its reliability and relevance. Skipping this step can lead to mixing inconsistent or unadjusted indicators, which weakens the final estimate.