selling a house on LI-Help (East Meadow, Valley Stream: for sale, insurance, assessor)

[Boxer]

We are trying to sell a house in Lynbrook LI. I would like some advice....if a house is priced at 499 will people who would look at a home price 490 not look at it. We are trying to figure out if it is worth it to lower price??? All of the buyers have liked the home but not the taxes....does not seem to me that lower the price will make a difference. All comments will be appreciated. I would like comments from buyers not realtors....

[fopt65]

What is the county's appraised value of the house? Most people I know first go to the county's assessor site to see what the county says its worth(and subsequently what the taxes will be on it) before making an offer.

[birdrgal]

Originally Posted by fopt65

What is the county's appraised value of the house? Most people I know first go to the county's assessor site to see what the county says its worth(and subsequently what the taxes will be on it) before making an offer.

I'm not sure how it works nowadays in Nassau (I haven't lived there for many years) but here in Suffolk the appraised value as shown on your tax bill doesn't bear much resemblance to the current market value.

In Suffolk, the county doesn't appraise your house; the township in which you live does that.

Houses are not reassessed each time they sell. They're only reassessed if the owner does something to the house that increases the square footage (expansion) or adds something that adds value (inground pool, garage, whatever). If none of those things are done, the assessed value of the house itself will not change.

The towns have their own weird way of computing assessments, so it's a mistake to even think of going by that. Looking at my tax bill right now, the supposed "full value" assessment is about 200K lower than the actual market value (based on accurate recent comps) of my house.

Buyers who are objecting to the taxes (rather than the price) probably wouldn't consider your house unless you dropped the price a lot more than just $9000. Say they want to pay no more than $10K in current taxes and your house is $13K. Dropping your price to 490K will only "pay for" three years of the difference in taxes -- maybe not even that, if you're in one of those tax-and-spend school districts that often get double-digit annual budget increases through.

It's tough to overcome high property taxes with a price drop unless the price drop creates "an offer the buyer can't refuse" -- meaning to price the house significantly below market.

[norm]

If you house is priced competitively with similar house for sale in your town then just pick a price that will enable you to negotiate down to your minimum. Anyone looking to buy in your town should be aware of the price range and taxes or they wouldn't be looking there.

If you are working with a RE agent they should be able to advise you much better than any of us here.

[Boxer]

I do have a realtor who seems to be ok. however, I guess that I think that they would rather have th house sit for a while and sell high than sell a bit lower sooner..I was thinking of increasing the realtor commision rather then change the price....

[fopt65]

Originally Posted by birdrgal

I'm not sure how it works nowadays in Nassau (I haven't lived there for many years) but here in Suffolk the appraised value as shown on your tax bill doesn't bear much resemblance to the current market value.

In Suffolk, the county doesn't appraise your house; the township in which you live does that.

Houses are not reassessed each time they sell. They're only reassessed if the owner does something to the house that increases the square footage (expansion) or adds something that adds value (inground pool, garage, whatever). If none of those things are done, the assessed value of the house itself will not change.

The towns have their own weird way of computing assessments, so it's a mistake to even think of going by that. Looking at my tax bill right now, the supposed "full value" assessment is about 200K lower than the actual market value (based on accurate recent comps) of my house.

Buyers who are objecting to the taxes (rather than the price) probably wouldn't consider your house unless you dropped the price a lot more than just $9000. Say they want to pay no more than $10K in current taxes and your house is $13K. Dropping your price to 490K will only "pay for" three years of the difference in taxes -- maybe not even that, if you're in one of those tax-and-spend school districts that often get double-digit annual budget increases through.

It's tough to overcome high property taxes with a price drop unless the price drop creates "an offer the buyer can't refuse" -- meaning to price the house significantly below market.

Nassau has reassessed properties yearly in the past 4 years, with the assessed value now being considered market value for the property. That's why I tell friends who are buying now not to offer above the assessed value. The value is easy to find, its on Nassau County's website, just type in the address.

[NYC2RDU]

Originally Posted by Boxer

I do have a realtor who seems to be ok. however, I guess that I think that they would rather have th house sit for a while and sell high than sell a bit lower sooner..I was thinking of increasing the realtor commision rather then change the price....

The net difference to your Realtor between a $499k sale and a $449k sale is approximately $500 dollars. They would rather sell your house quickly and get the commission.

[MichaelMarinelli]

Originally Posted by Boxer

I do have a realtor who seems to be ok. however, I guess that I think that they would rather have th house sit for a while and sell high than sell a bit lower sooner..I was thinking of increasing the realtor commision rather then change the price....

I think in your situation a price reduction might actually be better than a commission increase. If buyers are saying the taxes are too high, they're thinking of what their monthly payment is going to be. A price reduction will lead to people thinking of lower payments, however you're not going to lower it enough for the payment to differ all that much, unless you plan on going down $50,000.

If you'd rather increase the commission obviously it'll give other agents more incentive to show your home, which will bring more showings, which can possibly bring you a legit buyer. However, if the overall feedback is the taxes are too high, you may run into the situation where you get more people complaining about your taxes.

There are pro's and con's to both sides.

When I left Long Beach three years ago, the taxes where $10,000-ish. It still baffles my mind that anyone can afford to live there and buy homes. When you think about it, a mortgage payment on Long Island is $1,000 automatically with taxes and insurance. Then there's the actual loan, which the average home has got to be selling for at least $450,000. First buyers for the most part are coming up with anywhere from $22,500 all the way to $90,000 just for the down payment. Then they have to afford at least a $2,000 to $3,000 per month. I just can't fathom that thought. Especially since my mortgage payment is approx 1/5 that. Sorry..I went off topic for a little bit there...

[KellyFG]

I can't fathom why anyone would consider paying those taxes, or even the home prices in that area. Its bound to be the next Valley Stream or Elmont & my great room is bigger than most front yards over there. If I wanted my head up my neighbor's butt, I would have stayed in my townhouse. My stepdaughter lives there with her mother so I'm very familiar with the area & while its an easy commute, I still don't get why people would choose to live there.
How about greiving those horrendous taxes?
I hope you're at least in SD#20.

[birdrgal]

Originally Posted by fopt65

Nassau has reassessed properties yearly in the past 4 years

OUCH, that's nasty! I didn't know that.

Just for fun, I went to that website and put in the address of a house in East Meadow some good friends of mine sold in the late 1990s when they moved to Arizona. It was a typical Levitt 2-bedroom cape with an unfinished basement and unfinished attic, pretty much original from the early 1950s (it was his parents house he inherited) on 1/4 acre. The website shows they sold it for $130K then, because of the condition (needing upgrades). I guess the buyers only stayed there a couple of years because it shows another sale for $150K.

The site has pictures and now the house has been expanded and remodeled into a colonial (if not for the data I wouldn't believe it was the same house!!) with almost twice the living space -- it's now almost 2400 sq ft. Guess the second owner did all this work because it shows a sale in 2005 for $510! But the property tax figures surprised me, they're over $10,000 without Basic STAR, I guess because of the expansion plus reassessments every year. I knew the neighborhood very well and from the overhead maps I see most of the houses are still the original capes, so this house is probably overbuilt for the neighborhood. But I see the assessment really is in line with the last selling price, unless they just took that as the new "base" and just increased it by a percentage automatically every year.

I'm glad they don't do things that way here in Suffolk (reassessing every year) though that Nassau County website is a good tool for buyers to research houses they're interested in! It gives a lot of structural information about the house too.