What is a broker opinion of value (BOV)?

What goes into a BOV?

A BOV is a pricing argument with the evidence attached. Most commercial BOVs carry the same core sections, in roughly this order:

• The subject property. Address, parcel, building area, site area, year built, use, and zoning where it is known.
• Ownership and history. Who holds title, when they bought, what they paid, and any recorded transfers since.
• Comparable sales. Recent sales of similar buildings, with the screens used to pick them and any adjustments for size, age, location or date.
• An income view, where the property earns rent. The rent roll, net operating income, and a cap rate that turns income into value.
• Market context. What similar property has done in the submarket over the last few years.
• The broker's conclusion. A value range, a recommended list price, and the reasoning that connects the evidence to both.
• The marketing plan and the broker. How the property would be taken to market, and who is doing it.

The conclusion is the only part that is the broker's opinion. Everything above it is evidence the owner should be able to check.

How is a BOV different from an appraisal, a CMA and a BPO?

They differ in who prepares them, who relies on them, and what standard they are held to. An appraisal is prepared by a licensed or certified appraiser under a professional standard. A BOV, a CMA and a BPO are all broker or agent work products.

An owner can use a BOV to decide whether to sell and at what price. It is not a substitute for an appraisal where one is required: a commercial lender will usually order its own appraisal before it lends, and a BOV is not written to the standard a court, an estate or a tax matter needs.

What does Florida law say about a BOV?

Florida lets a broker give an opinion of value without an appraiser's license, as long as nobody calls it an appraisal. Section 475.612 of the Florida Statutes says that only a certified or licensed appraiser may issue an appraisal report and receive direct compensation for providing valuation services for an appraisal report.

Subsection (2) says that does not stop a licensed broker, broker associate or sales associate from providing valuation services for compensation, as long as they do not present themselves as a certified or licensed appraiser. Subsection (3) carves out brokers and sales associates who, in the ordinary course of business, perform a comparative market analysis, give a price opinion, or give an opinion of the value of real estate. The same subsection ends with the limit: "in no event may this comparative market analysis, price opinion, or opinion of value of real estate be referred to or construed as an appraisal."

In practice that means checking more than the title page. The word shows up in file names, email subject lines, template headings, and phrases like "appraised value" in the narrative. Remove it from all of them. This is a summary of the statute, not legal advice; read the current text on the Florida Legislature's site and ask counsel about your own documents.

How do brokers use a BOV to win a listing?

A BOV is usually the first thing an owner sees from a broker, and often one of several they are comparing. The one that wins is rarely the highest number. It is the one the owner believes.

What earns that belief:

• Comps the owner can recognize. Buildings on their street or in their submarket, with the screens stated. An owner knows when a comp is a stretch.
• An honest range. A tight range around an inflated figure buys a listing and then a price reduction conversation.
• The work shown. How many sales were considered, which were set aside and why, and how the conclusion follows.
• The person. The owner is hiring an individual. Name, license, track record and direct contact belong on the document.

Speed matters too. A BOV that arrives the day after the call is a different signal from one that arrives in two weeks.

What can public record support, and what can't it?

Public record supports the sales comparison approach well and the income approach not at all. Florida's county property appraisers publish ownership, parcel characteristics, the county's just value, use codes, and the sales history with qualification codes. That is enough to build a screened set of comparable sales.

No Florida county publishes rents, net operating income, operating expenses, leases, tenants, parking counts or clear height. Those come from the owner, from the broker's own files, or from market knowledge the broker brings. A BOV that presents an income approach built only from public record is presenting something the record does not contain.

The sales data also needs screening before it is used. Florida deeds recorded for a nominal $100 are usually not arm's-length sales. One deed can convey several parcels for one price. The most recent month or two reads thin because recordings lag. What Florida property appraiser data tells you about a commercial property walks through each of these.

How can AI help assemble a BOV?

AI is useful for the assembly and should stay out of the conclusion. The slow part of a BOV is gathering and formatting: finding the parcel, pulling the sale history, screening comps, writing the property description, and laying it all out in the firm's style. That is repeatable work, and a model connected to the county records can do most of it in minutes.

We built mortr for this. It is a CRM for commercial real estate teams that looks up county property appraiser records and generates a BOV in the firm's own branding. The comparable set, the screens and the evidence come from dated public records. The broker's conclusion is always the broker's: the document leaves room for it and does not write it for them. The connector underneath is described in the Tampa property records case study.

Whatever tool assembles it, check these before a BOV goes to an owner:

• The subject's area, site size and year built match the county record.
• Every comp is a real, arm's-length sale, and no portfolio price is divided by one building.
• The file date of the sales data is stated.
• Any income figure says whose it is and how old it is.
• The word appraisal appears nowhere.