Expert category
Commercial real estate expert witnesses
Commercial value depends on access, visibility, parking and circulation. A taking that touches any of them affects the property far more than the area acquired suggests, and the effect usually appears in income before it appears in sale prices.
Scope
The questions this expert answers
What is the property worth as an investment
Income capitalisation, where the capitalisation rate carries most of the disagreement.
Does it still comply
Parking below the ordinance ratio makes the use legally non conforming, which restricts expansion and rebuilding.
Can delivery vehicles still service it
A swept path drawing before and after is the most persuasive exhibit in many access cases.
What happens to rent and vacancy
Tenants renegotiate after an access change, and that produces direct evidence of the loss.
Is signage affected
Relocating or losing signage has a measurable commercial effect and is frequently treated as incidental.
What about the business inside
A separate question from the real estate, and compensable only in a few states.
Selection
What to check before engaging
| Criterion | What to look for |
|---|---|
| Discipline | Certified general appraiser with commercial and condemnation experience |
| Income analysis | Derives the capitalisation rate from comparable investment sales and shows the derivation |
| Market rent | Values on market rent rather than a particular lease, and can explain why |
| Sector knowledge | Experience with this asset class, whether retail, industrial or multi tenant |
| Compliance | Checks parking, setback and coverage against the ordinance after the taking |
| Support | Works with traffic and engineering experts rather than opining on their fields |
In practice
Why the income approach exposes the damage first
In a partial taking both approaches are applied twice, before and after. The income approach is usually the more revealing, because the effect of a taking on commercial property tends to appear in rent and vacancy before it appears in sale prices.
Fewer parking spaces, a changed entrance, a smaller yard or reduced lettable area all show up as lower rent, higher vacancy or both. A tenant who renegotiates after an access change has produced evidence that is hard to argue with.
Listed experts
Experts in this category
The directory is being built. Experts practising in this category can write to editorial@eminentdomainexpertwitness.com. Listing is free, requires evidence of credentials and condemnation experience, and is not sold.
In the meantime, how to find an expert sets out the four routes that reach the same population, and the questions worth asking before you engage anyone.
Questions about this category
My tenants will suffer during construction
Construction period disruption is generally not compensable, though the temporary easement itself is paid for. A few states compensate business damages by statute.
Parking drops below the required ratio
The use becomes legally non conforming, which restricts expansion and rebuilding and reduces what buyers will pay. It belongs in the after value.
Should the appraisal use my actual rents
It should consider them and generally value on market rent, since a buyer would price the property on its market earning capacity.
Related
Other categories
Eminent Domain
The primary category. Valuation and testimony in condemnation and just compensation disputes, covering every discipline a taking can put in issue.
Real Estate Appraisal
Certified appraisers who value property for condemnation rather than for lending, working to USPAP and, on federally assisted projects, the Yellow Book.
Fair Market Value
Opinions on what the market would have paid at the valuation date, under the legal definition rather than a general sense of worth.
Real Estate Damages
Diminution in value, severance damages, cost to cure, lost rent and the loss that remains after a proposed cure.
Land Use and Zoning
Entitlement probability, zoning compliance after a taking, and whether the remainder can still be developed for the use it was valued on.
Land Surveying
Boundaries, easements, encroachments, right of way plans and the survey evidence a partial taking turns on.
The right expert is the one whose field actually covers the dispute
Start from what is contested, not from a list of names. The category pages explain which discipline answers which question.