Real Estate Assessment
I got a new assessment last week. I’ve been staring dumbly at the paper. I know my condo has appreciated, but now the assessed value is more than what I paid for it. I don’t think that I could get this price on the market if I sold it today.
I keep a spreadsheet of my condo community’s recent prices. The Washington Post has all recent local sales on a searchable database so you can get an idea of what your neighbors paid 6 months ago to move into your neighborhood. With the opening of new condos all over the DC market, I wonder if prices are going to fall or go up.
It’s nice to know that my condo is still appreciating, but it’s disconcerting to know that I am going to have to start socking away some more escrow money, yet again. Where are those fixed payments the bank promised?! I have an aversion to variable payments. I want my payments fixed from year to year. I know I shouldn’t give the bank a loan of my escrow money, but my community has a $500 homeowner’s property tax refund if you have a net worth less than $250K. Per my NetworthIQ graph, I will be getting that credit for a while.
So let me post a question, how do you guys value your homes with doing your net worth calculations? Mine has fluctuated wildly over the last two years since I don’t think the units in my building are selling. Because of this, I feel that my assessment is too high and to be conservative, my net worth values my home at its original purchase price.
Caitlin wrote:
Jim just posted about this, and check out my comment on his post…might be helpful.
Posted on 19-Jan-06 at 11:40 am | Permalink
mapgirl wrote:
The thing is that my county assesses everyone every 2 years and not just when a home gets sold. I have a feeling that my assessment is still under current market values for when the weather gets warm, but we’ll see.
Thanks for the link to your old company’s site. I’ll have to check it out later.
Posted on 19-Jan-06 at 1:04 pm | Permalink
Rob Carlson wrote:
The bank’s rule of thumb is that market value is roughly 10% higher than appraised value. At least that’s what they used to give me my equity line. That’s the number I use (generally) for my net worth, minus about $8,000 in improvements and fixes I would need to do to sell this place again (I’m something of slob).
Posted on 20-Jan-06 at 11:48 am | Permalink
Tiara wrote:
I’m not sure how to value my house for purposes of calculating my net worth either, and doing that calculation is something I want to do soon. I think what I’m going to do is sit down with local real estate sale prices (mailed to me by a local realtor in a quarterly newsletter) and average those for houses in my immediate neighborhood with the same or fewer bed/baths and same or slightly less house and lot sizes.
Posted on 24-Jan-06 at 6:49 pm | Permalink