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how has the housing market been ?? we have been looking at homes there and my wife found one she loves. the price is 55k over assessor value. are sellers realistic or are they still expecting prices from 05/06 ??. my wife wants to make a offer but i don't want to pay over current value.Also the agent we are working with was not able to tell us why taxes there are 4 times the rate or idaho ? can anyone shed some light on it ? thanks,
how has the housing market been ?? we have been looking at homes there and my wife found one she loves. the price is 55k over assessor value. are sellers realistic or are they still expecting prices from 05/06 ??. my wife wants to make a offer but i don't want to pay over current value.Also the agent we are working with was not able to tell us why taxes there are 4 times the rate or idaho ? can anyone shed some light on it ? thanks,
Well, I can't give you specifics on North Pole, but here is some general real estate info in Alaska.
First, the property taxes are primarily how the local governments support the schools. Probably 80% of the local property taxes go to the schools. Still, the state gives the school districts about 70% of the total money that comes in. In other words, for every $100 for schools, $70 comes from the state $20 from the local government and $10 from the feds. I'm probably off a little on that division but my point is that most of the property taxes go to the schools.
Second, there is almost no other way for a local government to raise money. A pittance comes from fees etc but these are very small.
I don't know how Idaho governments get their money but likely it isn't only from property taxes.
As far as the price being $55K over the tax appraisal, that's really meaningless. I sell houses both above or below tax assessment all the time. Sometimes they sell for many times over the assessment and sometimes for substantially lower than assessed value. Last week we closed a deal on a lot for more than 4X assessed value. The reason is that the local government has to appraise every property every year and so they use "mass appraisal" techniques. These techniques are good when you average them out over thousands of properties but often are substantially off on individual properties.
The only way for you to know that you aren't paying too much for a property is to look at enough competing properties that you are comfortable with the price. You will never know exactly what it is worth until you negotiate with the seller and come to an agreement. When you and the seller agree on the price after you have looked at the competition, by definition, that is what it is worth at that time.
Well, I can't give you specifics on North Pole, but here is some general real estate info in Alaska.
First, the property taxes are primarily how the local governments support the schools. Probably 80% of the local property taxes go to the schools. Still, the state gives the school districts about 70% of the total money that comes in. In other words, for every $100 for schools, $70 comes from the state $20 from the local government and $10 from the feds. I'm probably off a little on that division but my point is that most of the property taxes go to the schools.
Second, there is almost no other way for a local government to raise money. A pittance comes from fees etc but these are very small.
I don't know how Idaho governments get their money but likely it isn't only from property taxes.
As far as the price being $55K over the tax appraisal, that's really meaningless. I sell houses both above or below tax assessment all the time. Sometimes they sell for many times over the assessment and sometimes for substantially lower than assessed value. Last week we closed a deal on a lot for more than 4X assessed value. The reason is that the local government has to appraise every property every year and so they use "mass appraisal" techniques. These techniques are good when you average them out over thousands of properties but often are substantially off on individual properties.
The only way for you to know that you aren't paying too much for a property is to look at enough competing properties that you are comfortable with the price. You will never know exactly what it is worth until you negotiate with the seller and come to an agreement. When you and the seller agree on the price after you have looked at the competition, by definition, that is what it is worth at that time.
WIth the money going to the schools then most of the schools there are good correct ?? because of the amount of people in like fairbanks and anchorage do they offer school choice ? Is there a huge differance between public and private schools ? as for the house question my wife and i have loooked a a lot of property in idaho. The banks here are not willing to loan over the assessed value. we where told that are the appraiser loooks at a house if he says it's worth 100k and they are asking 150k that we need to come up with that extra 50k because the banks are not willing to risk it no matter what the property is.the one thing i have found is that alot of people bought houses in 05/06 for tall cash and are not willing to accept the fact the market died and you are not going to get top dollar period. of course i want to make a smart deal but i have to look to the future too if i pay today can i get that in 5-10yrs if i decide to move areas or houses.
In Anchorage (where we own a home) the tax assessment is always lower then the appraisal of a home. and THANK GOD for that! Our taxes are crazy high on property because we have no income and no sale tax (except north pole has a sales tax) so the only way we can fund stuff is by the property taxes.
Tax assessment in Alaska has little to do with actual home value and what banks will lend. (at least in my experience I have only bought one home through a bank here) We home taxed for around $220,000 but appraises for $280,000 and our home loan was for $250,000.
I am familiar with Fairbanks and North Pole as I lived in both towns for some time. If you choose to live in NP, you cannot attend Fairbanks Schools without paying tuition since you are out of area. North Pole is tiny and has few schools. I dont think you have much of a choice since there are many 2 -3 elementary schools. In Fairbanks the schools are pretty good. No school is perfect and someone will always find fault with something. Your kids can attend any school in the district but if you live in a different bussing zone, you will have to drive you kids to school.
In anchorage there are way more kids and getting them into other schools is more of a challenge. You have to make sure there is room. Some schools are Lottery Schools and will accept kids from all over the district via a lottery system. My kids go to a charter school here in Anchorage. I like it very much. Rilke Schule German School of Arts Sciences
I'm not fully aware of all the public school options in Fairbanks and vicinity since for most of that time we home schooled. Home Schooling is VERY popular in Alaska.
Over all I am not sure where the housing market is going in Alaska. I think things are pretty steady but we could start to see a huge decline anytime now. Good Luck!
WIth the money going to the schools then most of the schools there are good correct ?? because of the amount of people in like fairbanks and anchorage do they offer school choice ? Is there a huge differance between public and private schools ? as for the house question my wife and i have loooked a a lot of property in idaho. The banks here are not willing to loan over the assessed value. we where told that are the appraiser loooks at a house if he says it's worth 100k and they are asking 150k that we need to come up with that extra 50k because the banks are not willing to risk it no matter what the property is.the one thing i have found is that alot of people bought houses in 05/06 for tall cash and are not willing to accept the fact the market died and you are not going to get top dollar period. of course i want to make a smart deal but i have to look to the future too if i pay today can i get that in 5-10yrs if i decide to move areas or houses.
It's going to be important to look at as many houses as possible. It's not uncommon for my buyers to see 20 houses before they settle on one. That way they are familiar with the market and feel more comfortable about the price when they do negotiate with a seller.
As far as appraisal. The cities, or boroughs assessed value is completely different than an appraisal done for a sale. If you look at a lot of homes and feel comfortable about the price of the home that you settle on, the chances are very good that the appraiser will agree with you. The appraisal will only be low if you are pushing the high value for the particular property. The bank will go by the appraisers value, not the value placed on it for tax purposes.
The housing market in Fairbanks and vicinity (this includes North Pole) has not gone South like other places. In fact houses and taxes are quite expensive. For example, a tiny 2-bedroom house across my street fetched over $160K about a year ago. This house is much like a double-size mobil home or trailer.
I have a small house with a little over one acre lot. It's a very nice small home, and I have gotten offers of $250K from a local realtor, but my house is not for sale. It has 1,700 sq. feet of living space: 3 small bedrooms, 1-1/2 bathrooms, a large play room downstairs, utility room (boiler, washer and dryer, etc.), and a 2-car garage. I pay nearly $3K in property tax for this house and lot.
Other expenses:
-Heating fuel (average: 12 months) $350.00 per month
-Septic pumping $300.00 per year
-Electricity $140.00 per month (GVEA has increase the cost of electricity)
I do all the maintenance myself: boiler cleaning and tune-up, plumbing, electrical, etc.
I am familiar with Fairbanks and North Pole as I lived in both towns for some time. If you choose to live in NP, you cannot attend Fairbanks Schools without paying tuition since you are out of area. North Pole is tiny and has few schools. I dont think you have much of a choice since there are many 2 -3 elementary schools..........
This is not true now. All the schools in NP/Fairbanks are in the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District. You can attend any school in the district, even out of your attendance area, as long as they have the space for you and you provide your own transportation. For a few schools the "attendance area" is the whole Borough, ie Barnette Magnet, Star of the North, Effie Kokrine, Hutchison HS, etc. Look here for current school info: List of Schools | Fairbanks North Star Borough School District........ there are 21 public elementary schools in the area. When we lived in Salcha, my kids attended North Pole Elementary. Now we are in NP, my one son attends Star of the North Charter in NP, but my other goes to Hutchison HS in Fairbanks. No tuition is necessary unless you go somewhere private like ICS/Monroe or one of the Christian schools.
Definitely do not buy unless you have been here and seen the property! This advice has been repeated over and over............but really hits truth in reality.......Pictures can be very deceiving.
Definitely do not buy unless you have been here and seen the property! This advice has been repeated over and over............but really hits truth in reality.......Pictures can be very deceiving.
And you are 100% correct about that. One must not only look at the house, but have an engineer look at it, too, just before committing to a purchase. One of numerous reasons for doing this is that at the moment and lot of home owners are trying to make their homes more energy efficient. Alaska is following Canada in the area of home construction. It means that older houses may not meet current insulation codes. These codes aren't mandatory, but to buy a home that isn't energy efficient in the interior of Alaska can turn into a very expensive proposition. To bring a home to the new specs may take from $20K to $50K depending on how much work must be done, from adding more blue-foam insulation to the foundation, to installing new vapor barriers and adding more insulation all around, including the attic.
Also, buying a house during the winter means that the yards (back and front) are covered with snow, and one never knows how the yard looks until summer arrives. Other things to worry about are permafrost, drainage, gutters, air leakage of the home, heating system, well, and septic. One must carefully inspect all of these before buying, and that's why it's a good idea to pay and inspector or construction engineer to do the work.
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This is not true now. All the schools in NP/Fairbanks are in the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District. You can attend any school in the district, even out of your attendance area, as long as they have the space for you and you provide your own transportation. For a few schools the "attendance area" is the whole Borough, ie Barnette Magnet, Star of the North, Effie Kokrine, Hutchison HS, etc. Look here for current school info: 
