What Does Fair Market Value Mean?
Wednesday, August 5, 2009 | Comments Off
“Full cash value” or “fair market value” means the amount of cash or its equivalent that property would bring if exposed for sale in the open market under conditions in which neither buyer nor seller could take advantage of the exigencies of the other, and both the buyer and the seller have knowledge of all of the uses and purposes to which the property is adapted and for which it is capable of being used, and of the enforceable restrictions upon those uses and purposes.
For purposes of determining the “full cash value” or fair market value” of real property, other than possessory interests, being appraised upon a purchase, “full cash value” or “fair market value” is the purchase price paid in the transaction unless it is established by a preponderance of the evidence that the real property would not have transferred for that purchase price in an open market transaction. The purchase price shall, however, be rebuttably presumed to be the “full cash value” or “fair market value” if the terms of the transaction were negotiated at arms length between a knowledgeable transferor and transferee neither of which could take advantage of the exigencies of the other.
Excerpt from The Revenue and Taxation Code