Appraisals & Foreclosures (Dallas, Irving, Richardson: for sale, real estate, mortgage)

[jacob]

I see areas like Coppell, Lewisville and Flowermound where houses are selling for more than their appraised value.

And then there are areas like Frisco, Mckinney where the houses are listed for way less than their appraised value (20% less), and some foreclosed ones are even lesser.

This clearly shows the demand supply imbalance

I am just curious why would most people not move in droves to Frisco and Mckinney to grab these home deals.

[momof2dfw]

If they work in Downtown Dallas or closer in say Richardson they do not want the horid commute. Any money saved by buying a house that far out and dealing w/ the traffic and time lost sitting in it is LOST in rising gas prices and less time to spend w/ family.

A few weeks ago the news did a story on people that lived in far out places and one lady in Frisco was complaining about how much time she spent on the road and gas usage to commute to her job downtown. She was pressing her boss for a 4-day work week. She got it but let's be realisitic......... her boss did NOT force her to buy a house in Frisco.

The other is the stigma once a high amount of foreclosures and dropping values hit a certain market. Buyers don't want to buy in there if they fear that their homes value will keep going down. Take a look at the majority of the people that are buying in these places. Most of them are of the nomadic type. They come here to Texas for a few years to work and then get transfered to another city/state or miss where they came from and go back shortly. They won't be in their homes long enough for the market to recover. The area is awash in TOO MANY homes for sale that are existing then throw in the builders that keep throwing up houses - the buyers w/ the mindset that they can "finally afford a brand new house unlike in ______". They bypass the exisiting homes for sale by people JUST LIKE THEM and do just like those sellers and by the brand new builders home. Therefore the existing homes sit on the market longer and longer till finally they get foreclosed on or sell terribly low so that the seller can get out from under a house they are no longer even living in.

Places like Coppell are more centrally located to jobs. They are not as "overgrown" as say Frisco or McKinney in terms of traffic congestion. You have several options in which direction one would go in to commute to a job in places like Coppell which spreads out the traffic. Throw in the number of people that live there that travel out of the airport weekly that are not sitting in commuter auto traffic and it makes a big difference.

[billdfw]

What "appraised value" are you referring to. If you mean the tax-assessed value, then your reasoning is wrong because tax assesed values are not accurate and do not represent the true value of the home.

[momof2dfw]

Originally Posted by billdfw

What "appraised value" are you referring to. If you mean the tax-assessed value, then your reasoning is wrong because tax assesed values are not accurate and do not represent the true value of the home.

In MOST areas of the DFW Metroplex the Tax Assessed Value is on average about 10% LESS than the "true" market value. If houses in one particular area are selling for 20% LOWER than the Tax Assessed Value - I'd RUN from that area as that would not be a good sign.

[ufcrules1]

Momo is 100% correct. My wife and I are looking in the coppell/vally ranch irving area becasuse she will more than likely be working in Dallas. There are more jobs closer to the city period. So being someone with common sense... there would be no way we would live in flower mound, frisco, lewisville etc. Lewisville is almost close enough but not as attractive as coppell or Irving. My wife does not want to commute more than 30min... and i don't blame her!

[Rakin]

Originally Posted by jacob

I see areas like Coppell, Lewisville and Flowermound where houses are selling for more than their appraised value.

And then there are areas like Frisco, Mckinney where the houses are listed for way less than their appraised value (20% less), and some foreclosed ones are even lesser.

This clearly shows the demand supply imbalance

I am just curious why would most people not move in droves to Frisco and Mckinney to grab these home deals.

3 little words, Location, Location, Location

Ok maybe a few extra words... the price of gas ?

[Lakewooder]

Excellent analysis, mom. I would add that when you buy in a new home area you'd better be prepared to stay 10 years or so. When and if they start building new homes again in Frisco and McKinney the new homes are going to be very tough competition against the sale of your 'old' home. Maybe even the vaunted granite will be passe' out there by then.

FYI the housing bust which began here in 1986 took about 15 years to turn around. So maybe you should get a 15-year mortgage and plan to stay that long.

Gas is definitely the wild card - Kunstler is predicting things will get so bad that we won't be able to depend on air conditioning. In that case, a close-in neighborhood with trees seems wise.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/points/stories/DN-pointofcontact_27edi.ART.State.Edition1.4dc7e9a.ht ml (broken link)

" Q:When you published The Long Emergency three years ago, oil was trading at about $50 a barrel, and naysayers wrote off your predictions of peak oil doom as cranky hysteria. What about now?

A: I would answer the naysayers by saying, "How do you like The Long Emergency so far – gasoline at $4.25. An onion at $1.50. ..." This follows the classic formulation as described by Kierkegaard. He said new and disturbing ideas are greeted first with ridicule, then with violent opposition, and are finally accepted as self-evident".

[intence]

You also have to keep in mind that each county might do the appraisals differently. The appraised value by the county means less than the price/sq ft. for homes which have recently sold in the same area.

[momof2dfw]

Originally Posted by intence

You also have to keep in mind that each county might do the appraisals differently. The appraised value by the county means less than the price/sq ft. for homes which have recently sold in the same area.

Most experienced buyers that have experience IN the Dallas Metroplex buying & selling (and that includes inner Dallas and ALL of the burbs no matter what county) KNOW that the Tax Assessed Value is ALWAYS less than the "real" market value. The ONLY time I even look at that "value" is when buying to make sure the price I'd be willing to offer is not WAY HIGHER than the tax offices "value". Real Estate Comps are MUCH more key to setting a listing price as is the CONDITION of the home and location.

[billdfw]

Originally Posted by momof2dfw

Most experienced buyers that have experience IN the Dallas Metroplex buying & selling (and that includes inner Dallas and ALL of the burbs no matter what county) KNOW that the Tax Assessed Value is ALWAYS less than the "real" market value. The ONLY time I even look at that "value" is when buying to make sure the price I'd be willing to offer is not WAY HIGHER than the tax offices "value". Real Estate Comps are MUCH more key to setting a listing price as is the CONDITION of the home and location.

This is not always the case. I have seen it happen many times where the tax appraised value is HIGHER than the actual value. As a general rule, the tax assessed value is much lower than the actual value, but this is not an absolute rule. The only general rule that you can follow is that the tax assessed values are NOT correct.