If a comparable sale property had an addition put on after the sale, the appraiser should:

• A. Use the current square footage
• B. Use the square footage at the time the property was sold
• C. Use the square footage after renovation
• D. Ignore the addition

Answer: (B)

In the Sales Comparison Approach, value is anchored to the features that existed at the time of each comparable sale. The price that was paid reflects the property’s state when it was sold, not any changes made afterward. If a comparable property gained an addition after the sale, that addition was not part of the sale price, so it should not be used to adjust the size or value of the sale itself. Therefore you use the square footage that existed at the time of the sale to keep the comparison apples to apples with the subject property.

Using the current square footage would imply that buyers valued the post-sale addition at the time of the sale, which isn’t the case. Using square footage after renovation would similarly distort the comparison by incorporating post-sale improvements into the sale price. If you need to reflect differences in size or post-sale improvements, those would be handled as separate adjustments rather than changing the square footage used for the comparable sale.