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at 400. In determining the highest and best use, and in turn the
fair market value of property, the realistic, objective potential
uses control the valuation process. Stanley Works & Subs. v.
Commissioner, supra at 400. The highest and best use of property
is the reasonable and probable use that supports the highest
present value. Symington v. Commissioner, 87 T.C. 892, 897
(1986). To determine what uses are reasonable and probable, we
focus on the "highest and most profitable use for which the
property is adaptable and needed or likely to be needed in the
reasonably near future". Olson v. United States, 292 U.S. 246,
255 (1934). The fair market value of property is not governed by
whether the owner has actually put the property to its highest
and best use, nor whether he or she ever intends to do so.
Stanley Works & Subs. v. Commissioner, supra at 400.
Each expert, Dilmore, Young, Tidwell, and Hearn, being
certified by the AIREA, recognizes and accepts AIREA's definition
of highest and best use. That definition is as follows:
The reasonably probable and legal use of vacant land or
an improved property, which is physically possible,
appropriately supported, financially feasible, and that
results in the highest value. The four criteria the
highest and best use must meet are legal
permissibility, physical possibility, financial
feasibility, and maximum profitability. [American
Institute of Real Estate Appraisers, The Dictionary of
Real Estate Appraisal (2d ed. 1989).]
While the guidelines of the AIREA may control the profession
to which these witnesses belong, that entity's guidelines are not
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