| ||
| ||
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
Tax Assessment/Appraisal: How Do I Know What My Home is Worth?
If you are in the home buying or selling market, it's important to understand the difference between tax assessment and appraisal value. Concentrate on the appraisal value because this determines your asking price. Understanding Tax Assessment The tax assessment is a tool local governments use to exact a property tax rate on residents. The local government determines your home's worth by reassessing the homes in the area you live in periodically. Some areas reassess every 2-3 years. But with today's booming real estate market, the National Association of Realtors estimates 60-70% of U.S. tax assessments do not reflect the escalating market value on home sales. This is why the tax assessment is not always an accurate gauge of true home worth. Tax assessment offers a general idea of home value. If you are curious about whether your tax assessment office is keeping up with the local market, telephone your local real estate board and local tax assessment office. Ask them about the local appreciation value on homes to determine if they are up-to-date. Focus on the Appraisal Value Home sellers should concentrate on the appraisal value, because a mortgage lender will write a loan on the home for this amount. Location is the prime factor in appraising a property. An appraiser will look at three homes that sold during the previous three-month period to determine what similar properties have sold for in the same neighborhood. If your home is in a rural area, or if the sales in your area have been sluggish, the appraiser can go within a five mile radius to locate similar homes for comparison. If there is home value inflation in the area, the appraiser will factor this in. A good appraiser will contact the realtor who sold the homes he or she is using as a comparison. What Do Appraisers Look For? An important rule of thumb of real estate is: location, location, location. Appraisers are mainly focused on the following to determine home worth:
Secondary Enhancements Help a Home Sell There are other bells and whistles the appraisers may factor in, but their impact on home value is marginal. Although these improvements do help the home sell, they do not impact the appraisal significantly. Here are some examples:
Sell Your Home Quickly Do not be mistaken -- upgrades are worthwhile because they will help sell your home quickly. For example, eye-catching landscaping will lure people in to look at the home, because 80% of homebuyers decide if they like a house when they first drive up to the property. When do I Need an Appraisal? Home sellers may want to pay for a professional appraisal so they know the true value of their home, but they are not required to have an appraisal. Your realtor will determine an asking price with you. To determine a fair and marketable price for your home, expect your realtor to research comparable home sales on Multiple Listing Services (MLS). Homebuyers are required by the lender to have an appraisal done and they must pay an average of $300-500 for it. Payment is due at the time of the appraisal. The buyer does not have the right to choose the appraiser -- the lender does this. Loan officers keep an approved list of appraisers on hand. Research on Home Value While conducting research on home value consider this: Is the neighborhood you live in completely built out, or are you competing with new homes still being built? If you are putting your home on the market and would like to conduct some of your own research, you can do one of three things. Visit the courthouse in your county and see what has sold in your area that is similar to your home. Call your local realtor and ask for a comparative market analysis. Or, visit open houses in your neighborhood which are similar to your own, to see what they are selling for. All of these activities are a good education for homeowners interested in learning the value of their home before placing it on the market or refinancing. About The Author Elaine VonCannon is a REALTOR with RE/Max Capital in Williamsburg, Virginia, and she manages investment property as part of her business. Elaine is also an Accredited Buyer's Representative as well as a Senior Real Estate Specialist. She has helped numerous clients invest in and make money on property in Southeastern Virginia. Visit http://www.voncannonrealestate.com.
MORE RESOURCES: After 30 years of marriage, Sharon and Michael Newman decided it was finally time to move from the Catskills to New York City. The house, designed by the architect Eric Fisher, looms over the street like a big industrial arm. A town house in Dallas, a midcentury modern in Rhode Island and a Tudor in Denver. Meet the real estate broker’s interns: an ambitious group willing to do anything, earn nothing and wake up early on a Sunday to fluff the couch cushions at open houses. For a century, Roosevelt Island housed a grim penitentiary. It was demolished in the 1930s. More borrowers are opting for fixed-rate loans with terms other than the standard 30 or 15 years, especially when it comes to refinancings. Two more glass skyscrapers are added to a group of towers on the waterfront of Long Island City. Insurance coverage for a co-op unit; when a tenant is ‘blacklisted’; a co-op is smaller than estimated. The market for $500,000-to-$600,000 houses in Westchester has become especially active. A shaky real estate market means more sellers are providing buyer concessions, from gift cards to help with paying property taxes. Houses of worship are adaptable to residential and other uses as congregations dwindle. Nearly two million Americans could benefit from mortgage relief from the nation’s biggest banks, as part of a broad government settlement to be announced on Thursday. A cold war-era satellite relay station is for sale in California after a Silicon Valley mogul gave up on plans to turn it into a weekend home. How can I make my front porch more appealing to buyers? Court hearings meant to protect New York homeowners from foreclosure are hopelessly slowed by endless paperwork and requests for additional information. The Bay Area and Silicon Valley expect the windfall from the Facebook stock offering to make their in-demand region even hotter. A Ditmas Park co-op, Upper East Side co-op and an Upper West Side condo. A 10-year-old house with six bedrooms in Montvale, N.J., and a renovated four-bedroom in Bronxville, N.Y. Prices in some parts of the country are still off by as much as 25 percent from their 2007 peak. Trinity Church is the largest landlord in Hudson Square and is part of the effort to rezone the area to residential from manufacturing. Rising oil prices and a boom in shale exploration are leading companies to add office space in the Houston area, most notably Exxon Mobil. Ms. de França is the president and chief executive of Douglas Elliman Development Marketing, which focuses on new residential developments. In Manhattan, parking lots and garages are making way for all sorts of development, especially luxury condominiums. Gray Burton lives in a 250-square-foot space he furnished with antiques he’s been collecting for years. A photogenic Westchester suburb with high-profile residents is also known for its art museum and a performing arts center. Wealthy investors are wiring millions of dollars to New York to snatch up a piece of 157 West 57th Street - what will be New York City's tallest residential building, with 90 floors overlooking Central Park. An apartment at the Trump International Hotel and Tower, opposite Central Park, was bought anonymously through a limited liability company. Homes in Dallas, Rhode Island and Denver. A Ditmas Park co-op, Upper East Side co-op and an Upper West Side condo. A 10-year-old house with six bedrooms in Montvale, N.J., and a renovated four-bedroom in Bronxville, N.Y. Compare the cost of renting and buying equivalent homes. For recently divorced men, a new breed of decorators offers help navigating a strange new world. Plants that light up the winter garden can be found at Broken Arrow Nursery in Connecticut, which has long been a favorite of gardening geeks. A sister in need drew the painter Beverly McIver back home to North Carolina, unaware that a new beginning was in store for both of them. A jewelry designer finds striking new objects for storage. Timothy Sakamoto and Jochen Repolust are part of the small but growing niche making mobile apps focused on specific works of architecture. To promote an auction of 20th- and 21st-century design, the interior designer Stephen Sills has created a preview exhibition in an apartment at the Apthorp. Fishs Eddy now sells plates acquired from the archives of the now-defunct Syracuse China Corporation, many more than 100 years old. The designer Russell Greenberg creates custom baby rattles with ends shaped like profiles of mom and dad. |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
|
| home | site map | Disclaimer | Privacy Policy |
| © 2006 |