A New York City homeowner should call a closed sale genuinely comparable only after confirming that it competed for the same buyers and matches the subject closely enough in exact property and unit identity, property and building type, legal and zoning context, size, layout, condition, material features, micro-location, sale timing, transaction terms, concessions, and data reliability. There is no evidence-supported universal radius, age cutoff, price-per-square-foot formula, adjustment amount, or comp weighting for a New York City listing. Choose and weight sales only after verifying the subject property, each transaction, the relevant competitive market, material differences, concessions, and current market conditions. New York City rolling sales files are public transaction data, not verified MLS records, appraisals, condition reports, concession records, or listing recommendations. Use each row as a lead, match it to the exact address, unit, BBL, deed, building record, and reliable transaction evidence, and resolve zero prices, duplicates, transfers, and missing fields before treating it as a candidate sale. A nearby, recent, or same-Finance-neighborhood sale is not automatically genuinely comparable. Confirm that it competed for the same buyers and compare property type, legal characteristics, building and unit attributes, condition, location influences, sale timing, transaction terms, concessions, and data reliability. Finance neighborhood and building-class labels are administrative grouping fields and do not prove common buyer competition or physical similarity. Treat the labels as screening inputs, then verify the actual building, unit, micro-location, legal use, amenities, condition, and transaction evidence. ACRIS, ZOLA, BIS, and DOB NOW have different purposes and do not individually establish condition, legal use, market value, title interpretation, or comparable-sale validity. Join the exact address, unit, BBL, recorded documents, zoning context, occupancy information, permits, filings, violations, and inspections, then obtain qualified legal, title, appraisal, inspection, or design review as appropriate. Fannie Mae's cited material is mortgage appraisal policy, not a seller pricing instruction, broker price opinion, or listing-price guarantee. Use it as a disciplined comparison framework while recognizing that a comparative market analysis, appraisal, and final list-price decision have different purposes. Market-based adjustments cannot be supplied from this general evidence for a specific New York City property. Do not invent dollar, percentage, time, condition, location, building, unit, feature, or concession adjustments; derive them from current verified market evidence or obtain a qualified appraisal. This evidence contains no subject address, candidate sale set, verified MLS facts, property inspection, appraisal, current New York City price conclusion, or client-specific result. Do not invent any Caryl Berenato performance, credential, representation, transaction, or local-experience claim.
Define the exact subject property before collecting sales
Start this step with the exact identifiers named in the sealed checklist. Keep one dated evidence file, label the resolution of every record, and preserve any mismatch as an open question rather than forcing records together. This makes the how should a homeowner evaluate which comparable sales are genuinely comparable before selling a home in new york, new york? usable by the buyer, attorney, title professional, inspector, and other responsible parties without inventing a property conclusion.
Verified evidence for this step
- Verified official finding: The Finance sales glossary identifies borough, block and lot, address, apartment number, building class, tax class, units, square footage, year built, sale price, and sale date as distinct fields that must be compared rather than collapsed into a single proximity test. Source: Glossary of Terms for Property Sales Files.
- Verified official finding: ACRIS lets users find a property's borough-block-lot number or address and review deeds and other recorded documents for Manhattan, Queens, Bronx, and Brooklyn from 1966 to the present. Source: ACRIS.
- Verified official finding: NYC Planning's Zoning and Land Use Application provides address and parcel context for zoning and land use, but the application is informational and does not itself establish a legal determination or property value. Source: Zoning and Land Use Application About.
- Verified official finding: NYC Buildings says BIS and the DOB NOW Public Portal can be used to review a building's jobs, filings, occupancy information, permits, complaints, violations, inspections, and current record status, with older and newer records divided across the systems. Source: Find Building Data.
Verify before moving on
Record the exact match key, official system, underlying document, displayed date or status, unresolved limitation, responsible follow-up owner, and applicable contract deadline. Ask the qualified agency or professional named by the evidence to resolve material gaps. Do not convert a public-record hit, map screen, form, or index result into a property-specific legal, physical, financial, insurance, title, or transaction conclusion.
Use rolling sales as leads, not automatic comps
Work from the exact property identifiers, signed documents, and deadlines already established in the evidence file. Open the underlying official record, save its date and identifier, and separate what the record can show from the decision it cannot make.
Verified evidence for this step
- Verified official finding: New York City Department of Finance rolling sales files list tax class 1, 2, and 4 properties sold during the last 12 months and include neighborhood, building type, square footage, and other property and transaction fields. Source: Rolling Sales Data.
- Verified official finding: The Finance sales glossary says its neighborhood names are assigned for valuation and may differ from common boundaries, while building-class categories group properties by broad usage so users can identify potentially similar properties. Source: Glossary of Terms for Property Sales Files.
- Verified official finding: The Finance sales glossary identifies borough, block and lot, address, apartment number, building class, tax class, units, square footage, year built, sale price, and sale date as distinct fields that must be compared rather than collapsed into a single proximity test. Source: Glossary of Terms for Property Sales Files.
Verify before moving on
Record the exact match key, official system, underlying document, displayed date or status, unresolved limitation, responsible follow-up owner, and applicable contract deadline. Ask the qualified agency or professional named by the evidence to resolve material gaps. Do not convert a public-record hit, map screen, form, or index result into a property-specific legal, physical, financial, insurance, title, or transaction conclusion.
Test whether the same buyers would consider both properties
Work from the exact property identifiers, signed documents, and deadlines already established in the evidence file. Open the underlying official record, save its date and identifier, and separate what the record can show from the decision it cannot make.
Verified evidence for this step
- Verified official finding: The Finance sales glossary says its neighborhood names are assigned for valuation and may differ from common boundaries, while building-class categories group properties by broad usage so users can identify potentially similar properties. Source: Glossary of Terms for Property Sales Files.
- Verified official finding: The Finance sales glossary identifies borough, block and lot, address, apartment number, building class, tax class, units, square footage, year built, sale price, and sale date as distinct fields that must be compared rather than collapsed into a single proximity test. Source: Glossary of Terms for Property Sales Files.
- Verified official finding: Fannie Mae's current appraisal policy says comparable analysis should use competitive properties and that property differences require market-supported adjustments rather than arbitrary rules of thumb. Source: UAD 3.6 Policy: Comparable Sales and Adjustments.
- Verified official finding: Fannie Mae's current policy says that when no truly comparable sales exist, the best indicators of value must be selected and adjusted using market evidence, including analysis of concessions and market conditions at the time of sale. Source: UAD 3.6 Policy: Comparable Sales and Adjustments.
Verify before moving on
Record the exact match key, official system, underlying document, displayed date or status, unresolved limitation, responsible follow-up owner, and applicable contract deadline. Ask the qualified agency or professional named by the evidence to resolve material gaps. Do not convert a public-record hit, map screen, form, or index result into a property-specific legal, physical, financial, insurance, title, or transaction conclusion.
Verify the deed, unit, building, zoning, and permit context
Work from the exact property identifiers, signed documents, and deadlines already established in the evidence file. Open the underlying official record, save its date and identifier, and separate what the record can show from the decision it cannot make.
Verified evidence for this step
- Verified official finding: ACRIS lets users find a property's borough-block-lot number or address and review deeds and other recorded documents for Manhattan, Queens, Bronx, and Brooklyn from 1966 to the present. Source: ACRIS.
- Verified official finding: NYC Planning's Zoning and Land Use Application provides address and parcel context for zoning and land use, but the application is informational and does not itself establish a legal determination or property value. Source: Zoning and Land Use Application About.
- Verified official finding: NYC Buildings says BIS and the DOB NOW Public Portal can be used to review a building's jobs, filings, occupancy information, permits, complaints, violations, inspections, and current record status, with older and newer records divided across the systems. Source: Find Building Data.
Verify before moving on
Record the exact match key, official system, underlying document, displayed date or status, unresolved limitation, responsible follow-up owner, and applicable contract deadline. Ask the qualified agency or professional named by the evidence to resolve material gaps. Do not convert a public-record hit, map screen, form, or index result into a property-specific legal, physical, financial, insurance, title, or transaction conclusion.
Separate property differences from transaction differences
Work from the exact property identifiers, signed documents, and deadlines already established in the evidence file. Open the underlying official record, save its date and identifier, and separate what the record can show from the decision it cannot make.
Verified evidence for this step
- Verified official finding: The Finance sales glossary identifies borough, block and lot, address, apartment number, building class, tax class, units, square footage, year built, sale price, and sale date as distinct fields that must be compared rather than collapsed into a single proximity test. Source: Glossary of Terms for Property Sales Files.
- Verified official finding: Fannie Mae's current appraisal policy says comparable analysis should use competitive properties and that property differences require market-supported adjustments rather than arbitrary rules of thumb. Source: UAD 3.6 Policy: Comparable Sales and Adjustments.
- Verified official finding: Fannie Mae's current policy says that when no truly comparable sales exist, the best indicators of value must be selected and adjusted using market evidence, including analysis of concessions and market conditions at the time of sale. Source: UAD 3.6 Policy: Comparable Sales and Adjustments.
Verify before moving on
Record the exact match key, official system, underlying document, displayed date or status, unresolved limitation, responsible follow-up owner, and applicable contract deadline. Ask the qualified agency or professional named by the evidence to resolve material gaps. Do not convert a public-record hit, map screen, form, or index result into a property-specific legal, physical, financial, insurance, title, or transaction conclusion.
Weight only evidence-supported comparisons
Work from the exact property identifiers, signed documents, and deadlines already established in the evidence file. Open the underlying official record, save its date and identifier, and separate what the record can show from the decision it cannot make.
Verified evidence for this step
- Verified official finding: Fannie Mae's current appraisal policy says comparable analysis should use competitive properties and that property differences require market-supported adjustments rather than arbitrary rules of thumb. Source: UAD 3.6 Policy: Comparable Sales and Adjustments.
- Verified official finding: Fannie Mae's current policy says that when no truly comparable sales exist, the best indicators of value must be selected and adjusted using market evidence, including analysis of concessions and market conditions at the time of sale. Source: UAD 3.6 Policy: Comparable Sales and Adjustments.
Verify before moving on
Record the exact match key, official system, underlying document, displayed date or status, unresolved limitation, responsible follow-up owner, and applicable contract deadline. Ask the qualified agency or professional named by the evidence to resolve material gaps. Do not convert a public-record hit, map screen, form, or index result into a property-specific legal, physical, financial, insurance, title, or transaction conclusion.
For separate transaction decisions, use Tribeca address-level due-diligence checklist, New York initial asking-price guide, New York seller offer review, New York buying-and-selling coordination guide. Those resources answer different questions and do not change this exact-address checklist, the signed contract, or its evidence limits.
New York City comparable-sale verification matrix
| Decision point | Evidence to collect | Supported test | Required limitation | Verify with | Before weighting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Property identity | Address, unit, borough, block, lot, property type, tax class, and building class | Match the exact subject and sale before comparing attributes | A neighborhood label or address alone can misjoin records | Finance glossary, ACRIS, ZOLA, and DOB | Resolve unit and BBL conflicts |
| Competitive market | Buyer pool, micro-location, building type, amenities, legal use, and external influences | Test whether the same buyers would seriously consider both properties | No universal radius and no automatic neighborhood match | Current market evidence plus property and building records | Document the competitive rationale |
| Sale verification | Sale date and price, deed, parties, unit, transaction type, concessions, and market exposure | Confirm the row is a usable arm's-length transaction lead | Rolling sales and recorded documents can omit material facts | Finance rolling sales, ACRIS, MLS, closing, and other reliable sources | Resolve zero prices, duplicates, transfers, and missing terms |
| Building and unit differences | Size, layout, floor, light, view, condition, amenities, occupancy, permits, violations, and inspections | Identify material differences that buyers recognize | City records do not prove current condition or market reaction | DOB, ZOLA, inspection, appraisal, MLS, and qualified professionals | Separate verified facts from assumptions |
| Adjustment and weight | Verified market evidence for time, condition, location, building, unit, and concession effects | Use market-supported treatment and the best indicators when no sale is perfect | No rule-of-thumb amount or guaranteed list price | Paired evidence, statistical analysis, appraisal, and current market data | Record support and uncertainty for every adjustment |
Use the matrix as a routing and deadline tool. It does not supply a property-specific conclusion. Mark each row verified, unresolved, or not applicable, and preserve who is responsible for the next action. Once the exact evidence file is organized, use the contact page to request a review anchored to those records.
Official sources used in this guide
- Rolling Sales Data — New York City Department of Finance
- Glossary of Terms for Property Sales Files — New York City Department of Finance
- ACRIS — New York City Department of Finance
- Zoning and Land Use Application About — New York City Department of City Planning
- Find Building Data — New York City Department of Buildings
- UAD 3.6 Policy: Comparable Sales and Adjustments — Fannie Mae
These sources establish only the claims and limitations in the sealed ledger. Their inclusion does not establish facts about a subject property or the client.
Frequently asked questions
Is the closest recent New York City sale automatically the best comp?
No. Proximity and recency are screening factors; the sale must also compete for the same buyers and be verified for property, building, unit, legal, condition, timing, and transaction differences.
Can I use the NYC rolling sales file as a complete comp report?
No. It supplies useful public fields and candidate transactions, but each row still requires address, unit, BBL, deed, building, and transaction verification before it can be weighted.
Do matching Finance neighborhood and building-class fields make two properties comparable?
No. Those are administrative screening fields; actual buyer competition, building and unit attributes, condition, location influences, legal context, and transaction terms still matter.
Can I adjust every comp by the same price per square foot?
No. The cited appraisal policy requires market-supported treatment of differences, and this evidence supplies no property-specific adjustment amount.