MIKELL, Judge.
Appellants 131 Ralph McGill Boulevard, LLC ("RMB"), Inman Park Properties, Inc. ("IPP"), and Jeffrey M. Notrica ("Notrica") appeal from the Fulton County Superior Court's order confirming a nonjudicial sale of property formerly owned by RMB. The foreclosure sale was conducted by appellee First Intercontinental Bank (the "Bank"). Appellants contend that at the foreclosure sale, the property was sold at less than its true market value. Finding no error, we affirm.
In order to confirm a nonjudicial foreclosure sale, the trial court "shall require evidence to show the true market value of the property sold ... and shall not confirm the sale unless it is satisfied that the property
So viewed, the record reflects that the property was sold to the Bank for $1,080,000 on August 4, 2009, pursuant to a power of sale contained in a deed to secure debt from RMB in favor of the Bank.
At the hearing on the Bank's petition, held January 6, 2010, the parties stipulated to the regularity of the sale, and the only issue was the adequacy of the sale price. The Bank requested, and the trial court granted, a one-day extension of time for filing the Bank's response to appellants' request for admission. After hearing evidence, the trial court confirmed the sale to the Bank, finding that the property brought at sale at least its true market value of $1,080,000, as required by OCGA § 44-14-161(b). This appeal followed.
1. Appellants contend that confirmation of the sale was error because the Bank had admitted that the true market value of the property was more than $1,080,000. Appellants argue that the Bank made this admission by operation of law when it failed to respond to appellants' request for admission in a timely manner. We disagree.
At the hearing, the Bank requested an extension of time to file its response to the request for admission. Counsel for the Bank explained that he had been unable to obtain certain documents requested until December 31; that he had so advised counsel for appellants; and that counsel for appellants had agreed that the Bank could have until December 31 to file "all this stuff," that is, responses to all the pleadings, including the response to the request for admission. Counsel for appellants countered that he had agreed to an extension only as to the documents requested, not as to the request for admission. The trial court ruled that the Bank's failure to file the response to the request for admission was due to "excusable neglect"
In their briefs, both parties treat the court's action as permitting the withdrawal of the Bank's admission, rather than as the grant of an extension. Under OCGA § 9-11-36(a), "[w]hen requests for admission are made, the matter is deemed admitted unless denied by written answer in a timely manner."
Under OCGA § 9-11-36(b), a trial court may permit withdrawal or amendment of an admission made by operation of law only when both "(1) the presentation of the merits of the action will be subserved by the withdrawal or amendment; and (2) the party who obtained the admission fails to satisfy the court that withdrawal or amendment will prejudice him in maintaining his action or defense on the merits."
Instead, appellants contend that the court was without power to permit withdrawal or amendment of the admission, because the Bank failed to move to withdraw the admission. However, as noted above, the Bank made an oral motion for a one-day extension of time to file its response to the request for admission, thus seeking relief from an admission by operation of law. Both the oral motion and counsel's argument at the hearing "plainly showed the nature of the relief sought,"
2. Appellants contend that the trial court erred in determining that the sale price of $1,080,000 was the true market value of the property on the date of the foreclosure. We find no error.
At the confirmation hearing, both parties offered the testimony of licensed appraisers.
Appellants contend that Pardue's appraisal was flawed because the $10,000-per-unit reduction for renovation costs was based on speculation, conjecture, and hearsay. Pardue testified that this figure was provided to him by an RMB representative who had taken him through the building; however, Pardue further testified that this $10,000-per-unit reduction was based upon his 35 years of experience in looking at apartments that required rehabilitation or remodeling. Upon questioning by the court, Pardue testified that based upon his experience with apartments and his inspection of the subject property, renovation costs of $10,000 per unit were fair and reasonable and "would be a minimum." Thus, Pardue's appraisal was not made solely in reliance on the RMB representative but was based on Pardue's own experience. Pardue testified that his experience included not only appraisal work but that earlier he had served as a general contractor for an office building in the Atlanta area.
RMB offered an appraisal by Clay M. Weibel, a commercial real estate appraiser, who used a similar methodology in arriving at his opinion of the value of the property, that is, a per-unit value based on comparison sales reduced by per-unit projected renovation costs. We note that Weibel used the same figure for projected renovation costs—$240,000 or $10,000 per unit—as the Bank's expert used in his appraisal.
Although Weibel's estimate of the value of the property was higher than that given by Pardue ($1,200,000, as compared to $1,080,000), Weibel's testimony supports the trial court's determination that the renovation costs would amount to $240,000, and that these costs must be accounted for in determining the true market value of the property.
Because "[t]he superior court had sufficient data in evidence upon which it could apply its own knowledge and ideas so as to derive its own opinion as to the market value of the property at the time of the sale,"
Judgment affirmed.
SMITH, P.J., and ADAMS, J., concur.