Fair market value and using comps?

[Jen Wilson]

We are Canadians from Toronto, Ontario currently looking for a vacation home in Key West, FL. We look at comps for many of the properties we're interested which sold for $100,000 less 4-6 months ago. Obviously, some of these were foreclosures but not all of them and now, we are seeing crazy prices that are well over $100,000 greater than previous sales of similar, often identical, properties --and not foreclosures. Pardon the pun but prices are going through the roof down there --and relatively quickly! What does one do when one is trying to invest in a property with such price increases in such a short time? To what extent can we rely on comps from recent months when making an offer? We keep being told "that was 6 months ago". Hello! SIX MONTHS ago? I'd expect some increase but not more than 100 grand! It feels like people are pulling prices out of a hat and comps seem obsolete.