Ahmadreza SamadiNext door is not always comparable
Fictional buyer Mina places two neighbouring flats on a comparison rail. One card is an asking price; the other records an older agreed sale. Neither card becomes identical evidence merely because the doors are close. No actual property, price or valuation is represented.
English animated explainer with synthetic narration and English captions. Mina, the folding street, both flats and the comparison rail are fictional. This is a visual analogy for assessing comparable evidence, not a real property, price, sale, dataset or valuation. No RICS affiliation or professional valuation credential is claimed.
Read the English film transcript
Mina sees a flat for sale on a fictional street. The flat next door has a price tag too. It looks like an easy comparison. But open the two evidence cards. One is a current asking price. The other is an older, completed sale. They
aren’t the same kind of evidence. Now lift the rooms out of the street. One flat is larger. One has been refurbished. Their outlook and terms differ. Being near each other doesn’t make them identical. Valuers use comparable evidence to support a valuation. Guidance from
RICS, the professional body, says completed transactions normally give the best evidence, and asking prices should be treated with caution. You need to know what actually happened, when it happened, and how the evidence property differs from the one you’re considering. Our comparison rail has
three checkpoints. First, the date and the evidence. Was it a listing, or an agreed sale, and when? Second, the match. What’s similar about the location, size, condition and terms? Third, the gaps. What important details are missing, or need adjusting? There’s no magic rule
that one extra feature adds the same amount everywhere. Adjustments often need professional judgement and local market knowledge. Sparse or old evidence makes the conclusion less certain. A nearby asking price can be context. On its own, it isn’t proof of value. Mina keeps the
uncertainty on the card, instead of filling it with a guess. Before relying on an estimate, ask to see the evidence behind it. The closest pin on a map isn’t automatically the strongest comparison. Ahmadreza Samadi. More at a-samadi.com