4.4.2.3. Sales Verification. In developing an opinion of market value for the purpose of determining just compensation, the appraiser must verify sales amounts and ascertain whether terms and conditions of a sale were conventional and under open competitive market conditions.455 Verification typically requires interviews and discussions with the seller, the buyer, the closing agency, and/or the broker handling the transaction in addition to confirming recordation.456 As federal courts recognize, prices reported in public records may not tell the whole story: 

[C]ertainly most transactions are likely to be influenced by the motives of the parties thereto, such as the special needs or the strong desires of the buyer, the financial or other exigencies of the seller, and the whims, follies, fancies or ignorance of local values on the part of one or both of them . . . . [T]hese are all matters of which persons . . . such as a party to the sale itself or the broker or agent who affected it, can be expected to know at least something . . . . More often than not the true consideration paid is not stated in a deed . . . . And . . . accurate knowledge of the price paid cannot be calculated from revenue stamps without accurate knowledge of liens and encumbrances on the land at the time of the sale which might or might not appear in the records . . . .457 

Verification must be accomplished by competent and reliable personnel, and if the case goes into condemnation, the appraiser who will testify must personally verify the sale. As the Third Circuit explained, the appraiser’s function is “to express his opinion of the value of real estate which he has personally examined and studied . . . .”458 A real estate appraiser, “no matter how well qualified he may be in general, . . . is not an expert on the value of property which is unknown to him or is situated in an area which is unfamiliar to him.”459