An appraisal is pretty much without weight if the person doing the appraising would never dream of paying anywhere close to the price. In the case of a house, like someone previously said, if the house appraiser's appraisal is legitimate at say, 250k, then the appraiser would certainly buy the house for 125k if given the opportunity and make a nice profit. Any asset that has real value will find a buyer at a substantial discount to that value.
In this case, most of the appraisals really cannot be taken seriously, since not a single person is confident enough in the name that they would buy it now for anywhere near what they are appraising. Compare that, for example, with a three-letter dotcom. Whatever the going rate is, that sets the benchmark, so if the absolute least amount that three-letter dotcoms are going for is $2,500, then most everyone would offer $1,250, if given the chance, then they would just turn around and sell the name here and double their money. In that case, they could say that the name is worth at a minimum $2,500, since that is the current minimum, but then they could also appraise with a higher number by saying that the letters are good letters, etc. The point is that the appraisal is always at least based on what some human being on planet earth right now would reasonably pay.
If you take some jewelry to get appraised for insurance purposes, and the jeweler appraises it for 15K, that really doesn't mean you can sell it to any human for 15K. Go ahead and ask that guy to give you 15K for the jewelry and you will soon see how far off that 15K number is. Ever see the classified ads where some fool is trying to sell a not so valuable piece of jewelry? They almost always mention an appraised price........something like Appraised at $4,500, will sacrifice for $3,000. If the appraisal meant anything at all, the person doing the appraising would at least buy the jewelry at a big discount, or there should be willing buyers whom the appraiser could match up with the seller.
If your idea of a 3K name is one that cannot be sold on this forum right now for anywhere near that, and can only have value if the name is used as part of a business, or is sold to and end-user for that amount, then by all means, keep throwing around numbers that nobody is prepared to pay right now. You shouldn't be taken seriously. If the odds are 10 percent that a seller finds an end-user for a sale of 3K, that does not make the name worth 3k. Not even close.
A name is worth what you would reasonably expect someone to pay for it in the current market. That is what all assets are worth. LegalAdvice.net is not a good name in my mind, but if you think it is, then let's see some hard money offers that are at least within shouting distance of your sky high, mostly pipe-dream appraisals that really have nothing backing them up except a bunch of gobblygook about starting online legal businesses, etc. This name doesn't give anyone a great advantage, and whatever becomes of it will be the result of exhausting work, not a great domain name.
There is a section here at Dn Forum where people can chat about web development all day long. Some names really lend themselves to development. Maybe they bring type-in traffic. Maybe they are just great names, but a really good name brings something to the table that other people in its specific industry desire. When that is the case, those people will inquire about the name, make an offer, and then build their business around the name because the name adds value to the business. If this name was a good name then there would be unsolicited emails from those in the legal field, and they would be offering real money. As it is, tens of thousands of people in the area of Law have essentially said no to this name. If they thought it had value they would see that the name was parked, check the Whois, and then send an email trying to acquire this so-called "Gem". It isn't happening, and it won't happen. And those are the exact end-users whom you say would want it. It doesn't make sense.
There are tons of legal advice sights out there. Go ahead and send 100 emails and see if anybody is interested. A good name will get sold if/when you put it in front of its target audience and logical buyer(s).
This name is a DUD. Nobody needs it.
