Valuation tasks fall into one of two groups: adversarial or non-adversarial. Both situations present different opportunities for our property advisory Valuation Team to add value to the assignment.
Adversarial assignments can rapidly escalate into a costly, time consuming and frustrating legal exercise. Our prime objective therefore is to provide a solution which avoids litigation and an expensive court action. This can only be achieved by an open, consultative and transparent process involving all parties, thorough research, and a well-documented valuation report with a fully supported, unbiased, conclusion, the rationale for which is technically and legally valid but easily understood by a non-technical reader. The proof of the pudding is in the eating … virtually all of the cases involving our property advisory Valuation Team are resolved amicably and the few that do proceed to court are usually decided in our favour.
Non-adversarial assignments provide many opportunities to add value to your real estate even when the purpose of the assignment is directed to a single goal, for example establishing Market Value for financing purposes. Members of our Valuation Team are trained to recognise and identify opportunities to enhance or safeguard the short and long term prospects for your property and can call upon the expertise of our other Divisions (Property Tax, Planning, Lasercad® Space Measurement, Counselling, Economic Intelligence, Brokerage) for advice if such is required. For example, there may be opportunities to reduce the property taxes, to “up zone” or prevent a “down zoning”, increase the “BOMA” leasable area, restructure the leases, increase the rents, reduce operating costs, or make cosmetic changes which would enhance marketability and value. Our property advisory Valuation Team will deploy our proprietary multi-million dollar IT platform CompuVal®, a powerful family of software applications which integrates and analyses property sales, assessment, vacancy, revenue and expense data. It allows our Valuation Team to benchmark your property with similar real estate, analyse the revenue and operating expenses, and run trend line analysis to identify further opportunities to add value to your real estate asset.
The purpose of the valuation and appraisal assignment will dictate the real estate valuation base and the level of reporting required to satisfy the end user of the valuation and advisory report. In order that you can select the most cost effective solution, one that is precisely matched to the requirements of the end user, we offer seven valuation solutions. The more comprehensive valuation and advisory reports are prepared for litigation: or are tools for optimising your commercial real estate asset; performance evaluations comprising a fiscal, physical and legal audit, the outcome of which is an estimation of the commercial property asset value and recommendations on improving its performance within the constraints imposed by the your objectives and time horizon, as well as providing a property value opinion. At the other end of the range is a more limited exercise the sole purpose of which is to estimate a real estate value range and most probable property value as an input to broad decision making.
All of our valuation and real estate advisory assignments comply with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ Global Valuation Standards (RICS Red Book), the International Valuation Standards (IVS), the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP), and the Canadian Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (CUSPAP).
This is a complete valuation. The valuation and advisory report provides the end user with a comprehensive (fiscal, physical and legal) picture of the property. It is an invaluable resource document for real estate asset management. There is no restriction on its use. End users include pension plans, REITs, national and regional property companies, and others. It is also a “court ready” report suitable for use in litigation for assessment appeals, bankruptcy, defects in title, divorce, environmental contamination, expropriation, First Nations Land Claims, fraud and misrepresentation, professional liability … as well as portfolio evaluation, highest and best use, and feasibility studies; for all types of commercial real estate.
This is a complete valuation but the valuation and advisory report is issued in summary format. It is used for all property types. Although less comprehensive than a Master Valuation Report it is suitable for all real estate purposes (other than litigation and conduit financing), including balance sheet, capital gains tax, charitable donations, ecological gifts, estate settlement, fire insurance, financing, HST self-assessment, International Financial Reporting Standards, liquidation value, merger & acquisition, partnership valuation, purchase or disposal, rental valuation. Its use is unrestricted. Its cost is approximately 75% of a Master Valuation Report.
This is a complete valuation but the valuation and advisory report is issued in abbreviated format. It is used for less complex, developed commercial properties. Its use is unrestricted other than litigation and conduit financing. Its cost is approximately 58% of a Master Valuation Report.
This is a complete valuation but the valuation and advisory report is issued in restricted format. The valuation and advisory report contains a statement of our findings and conclusion but our notes and working papers are held on file rather than being in the report. Its use is restricted to the client. Its cost is approximately 55% of a Master Valuation Report.
This is a complete valuation but the valuation and advisory report is issued in restricted format since it is an update of a Master Valuation or Valuation Report. This type of valuation is the most economical way to proceed if there is a requirement for periodic revaluations of the property such as that required by the International Financial Reporting Standards. Since the Update Valuation can only be completely understood if it is read in conjunction with the Master Valuation or Valuation Report, its use is restricted to the client or to parties in possession of both reports. Its cost is approximately 29% of a Master Valuation Report.
Update Valuations can only be issued if we have a Master Valuation or Valuation Report on file and, (1) there has been no change in the intended user, (2) there has been no significant change in the real estate, (3) the time period between the effective date of the Master Valuation or Valuation Report (or the most recent update) is not unreasonably long for the type of real estate involved. If we have a Master Valuation or Valuation Report on file for a previous owner, it will still be possible to bring the property under our Update program, provided that the Master Valuation or Valuation Report is first updated to reflect the current fiscal, physical and legal state of the property.
This is a limited valuation and is generally based on an external inspection of the property and such information as is available in our CompuVal® Knowledge Base. Essentially this type of real estate valuation is of a preliminary nature only. Its use is restricted to the client and it is provided for the client’s exclusive, internal use as an input to broad decision making. The valuation and advisory report contains a statement of our findings, real estate value range and “most probable property value”. Our notes and working papers are held on file rather than being in the report. This is a limited assignment and a restricted report. Its cost is approximately 25% of a Master Valuation Report.
This type of assignment is provided to clients who wish to obtain a professional review of a Valuation or Appraisal Report, in order to determine whether the analyses, opinion and conclusions contained in the report under review are appropriate and reasonable. A Valuation Review is usually conducted during litigation proceedings to determine whether the Valuation or Appraisal Report tendered by the opposing party passes evidentiary muster. Its cost is approximately 33% of a Master Valuation Report.
This annual service draws on the professional expertise of our Valuation and Planning Divisions to protect our clients’ property against capital asset erosion through inadequate (or over adequate) fire insurance coverage, down zoning and adverse market value changes. Simply put, PAMS® PPM provides clients with professional valuation and planning advice when they need it so that they can avoid being blindsided by external events that threaten their property. It reduces their administrative burden and risk and better positions them to maximise the value of their property holdings. When required, it will also reduce the cost and expedite the valuation of their property for financing, balance sheet, IFRS and other purposes.
In addition, since clients owning industrial property often require an appraisal of their processing or manufacturing machinery, we have forged strategic alliances with experts in selected industries who can undertake equipment appraisals.
We offer valuation solutions for the following types of property:
Valuation Case Studies detail some of the valuation solutions we have provided to property owners.
