Which has more weight in refi appraisal... Recency or similarity?

[Wesley Raye]

Looking to pull $ out of a condo I rent in Carlsbad, CA. I can do it if the appraisal comes back at what comps are currently selling for in our market; however, I had two neighbors sell in unique situations that could potentially cause the appraisal to come in short of my goal. Comps have sold for 550-575k in recent months and I owe 360k on my property. Awesome!...I thought, until I found out that a neighbor had been in a lease to own situation under the table and sold at a super low price of 450k back in February 2017. Another neighbor passed and family settled for 459k in a really slow November of 2016.  Hence the question how will the appraiser look at this? The other units that are exactly like mine from over 3 months ago or current comps that are similar, but not the same product? How can I get this info to the appraiser without breaking rules? So, as a rookie I turn to the BiggerPockets masses for advice. 

[Antoine Martel]

First of all, you never know what the appraiser is going to say or do. It is just a chance of luck. Also, sometimes when you are going to get an appraisal from a bank or something. They will choose the appraiser and you will have no contact with the appraiser before they go see your house. This way you will have no way of contacting them and will not be able to show them the comps you were thinking of using. I would take a average of all the houses that sold within the last 6-12 months, that have 20% of the sq footage and same bedroom and bathroom count. Use that to find your appraisal value.