Sales Exclusion Criteria

Exclusion determinations are made for each real property transfer. This is done to insure that certain transfers are excluded from use in state programs, studies, and resulting products. For example, all sales equal to or below $10.00 are automatically excluded from any sales related study. These sales are not considered representative of true market conditions.

Assessment officials should see the ORPS's sales exclusion criteria pdf doc document for more detailed information.

Sales are included or excluded from use in ORPS products based on sales exclusion criteria.

There are two types of exclusion criteria:

  • Arm's Length
  • Ratio

ORPS Arm's Length Exclusions

An arms length sale refers to a real estate transaction in a open market freely arrived at by normal negotiations without undue pressure on either the buyer or seller. Arm's length determinations are made based on conditions of transfer, full sale price vs. personal property or sale date vs. contract date.

ORPS will exclude a sale as non-arm's length if:

  • Full Sale Price minus Personal Property is less than or equal to $10.00.
  • More than 1 year elapsed between the Contract Date and the Sale Date.
  • Conditions of Transfer are present, item 15 on the RP-5217 form
    • Exception is "G" - Significant Change. This does not impact arms-length nature of sale, only "ratio" usability.
    • Exception is "J" - No Conditions Apply. When "J" is present on RPS035 file or paper correction, any other Condition Codes are erased/deleted.
    • Condition "I" requires an acceptable explanation and should be submitted as directed in Submitting Condition Code "I" Corrections. (See Common Correction Issues)
  • If sale is determined to be non-arm's length, it is then automatically excluded for ratio purposes.

ORPS Ratio Exclusions

Ratio exclusions are based on part of parcel, multiple parcels, multiple towns, condo, significant change, full sale price - personal property < $10,001, total assessed value = 0.

ORPS will exclude an arm's length sale for ratio purposes if:

  • Part of Parcel Sale
  • Multiple Parcel Sale
  • Sale is a Condo
  • Parcel is located in multiple towns
  • Full Sale Price minus Personal Property is less than $10,001.
  • Total Assessed Value = $0
  • Significant Change has been indicated (Condition "G")
  • Parcel is not residential (exclude from RAR only)

The following reference table summarizes the exclusion criteria related to RP-5217 form items.

Chart showing criteria which determines inclusion or exclusion in the calculations of RARs and CODs and other state products using sales data.