Refinance - Appraised property values in Cary (sale, real estate)

[MorrisBoy]

Has anyone here recently re-financed? How did the appraisal go? Was the property value comparable to say... Wake County assessed value? If not, in percentage terms how much did it drop/rise?

I am looking to refinance but am afraid that the house might be appraised for less because 1-2 houses in my neighborhood got sold for lot less than expected. I live in 27519 area code if that helps!

TIA.

[Bilirubin]

I'm no expert, but why is this a bad thing - if your house appraises for less than you'd like? Doesn't it protect you (and the bank, and thus all taxpayers) from borrowing more than the home is likely worth? Unless you still owe 95% on the mortgage you could still get refinanced, right? Could you use that lower appraisal and dispute the Wake Co. appraisal and property tax? If you're worried about what your house will sell for . . . it will sell for what someone thinks it's worth and what they are willing to pay for it. I guess I just don't see why you're afraid.

That said, I am doing a re-fi, but we closed 6 months ago so no appraisal is needed. Depending on when you bought yours, you may not need one either.

[jshallen]

yes...apprasals have gone down everywhere. they will take 4-5 comps in your neighborhood over the last few months.

[North_Raleigh_Guy]

Originally Posted by Bilirubin

I'm no expert, but why is this a bad thing - if your house appraises for less than you'd like?

A bank wouln't refi your loan if your house is appraised for less than the existing loan value. So you want the appraisal to be high enough to cover what you already owe so you can qualify to get the new lower interest rate.

Originally Posted by Bilirubin

Could you use that lower appraisal and dispute the Wake Co. appraisal and property tax?

The period to dispute the 2008 county appraisal has long since past. You can try to dispute it now, but will likely have little success. So the lower appraisal will not help much in that regard at this point.

In the end, when looking to refinance to a lower interest rate you really need to have the appraisal come in for at least as much as you owe. Otherwise you are stuck at the old higher interest rate which costs you more money. That is why it really helps when you put 10-20% down in the first place when you purchase. That way, even if your house value falls a little, say 5-8%, you are not "upside down" on the loan since your loan is already for 10-20% less than what the house was originally worth and you can still qualify to refinance even if the house has lost some value.

[gobirdz27]

Our house was appraised last week. We also live in 27519, purchased a new construction home in August 07 for $440k and the appraiser said it's now worth $455k (+3.4%).

Check your comps on wakegov.com to get an idea how you're doing.

[rcarrillo]

Originally Posted by jshallen

yes...apprasals have gone down everywhere. they will take 4-5 comps in your neighborhood over the last few months.

The have not gone down everywhere. In many areas they have been stable for the last year, in some places even up a few percent. The only way to know for sure, is to get an appraisal done.

You can get a rough estimate by looking at the Wake County website and at neighbor sales, but unless you know the condition and exact features of the properties you could be far off. You also need to know how to make adjustments for differences. Just because 2 homes look the same or have the same sqft does not make their values comparable.

[Charlton Dude]

Just closed on my refi. My home is valued far higher than what it was a year ago. Buy in a great location and you stand a much better chance of a higher appreciation rate. Loving Cary even more now.

[Petunia16]

A few questions on appraisals, if anyone cares to answer... We rent a lovely home and we are considering purchasing it.

1. On our block, four homes have sold over the last year. One was a foreclosure and one was a "inside the family" deal.
2. I know that price per square foot isn't the best way to determine the value, but they are all over the board on my block. The four that sold: $97/square ft, $103, $122 and $113. The owner of this home set the value at $135/square foot, although that was back in October. This home backs up to a pretty busy street. Larger lot, yes... but it's noisy during peak hours. And the street might be widened this year, too. I can't find the logic in this price? (There was mention of the recent kitchen/granite remodel but I don't think that would tack on $10/square foot??). The highest per square foot I can find in this entire subdivision that sold in the last year is $124 per square foot.
3. The owners claim we can throw out the foreclosure and inside deal out when appraising this home. Is that true?
4. On the wake county website, the home was assessed at $30K below what they are asking. The assessment is just a ballpark of the sale price back in 2002 with a certain amount of inflation calculated for property tax, correct? Does the county website throw out foreclosures when calculating assessed values?
5. Lastly... is it in bad taste to get this home appraised on our own? I respect the owners and really like them, but I really think they are asking too much, especially with the busy street etc.

There's talk of rent credit as a down payment and other things that are motivating us to consider the purchase, of course it wouldn't mean anything if they were upping the price to just give us rent credit (duh). But we haven't been that serious until now (our lease is almost up). So, I'm trying to get my ducks in a row before we start spending a lot of time with brokers and shelling out money for appraisals etc.

If you actually read all that, I thank you a whole bunch in advance I didn't think I would have that much to ask! Please PM me if you want more details. I would love to discuss this with a real estate sleuth! hehe.

Oh, and I guess this isn't about refinancing, but it is about Cary appraisals... is that still on topic? Sort of?

[MikeJaquish]

Originally Posted by Petunia16

A few questions on appraisals, if anyone cares to answer... We rent a lovely home and we are considering purchasing it.

1. On our block, four homes have sold over the last year. One was a foreclosure and one was a "inside the family" deal.
2. I know that price per square foot isn't the best way to determine the value, but they are all over the board on my block. The four that sold: $97/square ft, $103, $122 and $113. The owner of this home set the value at $135/square foot, although that was back in October. This home backs up to a pretty busy street. Larger lot, yes... but it's noisy during peak hours. And the street might be widened this year, too. I can't find the logic in this price? (There was mention of the recent kitchen/granite remodel but I don't think that would tack on $10/square foot??). The highest per square foot I can find in this entire subdivision that sold in the last year is $124 per square foot.
3. The owners claim we can throw out the foreclosure and inside deal out when appraising this home. Is that true?
4. On the wake county website, the home was assessed at $30K below what they are asking. The assessment is just a ballpark of the sale price back in 2002 with a certain amount of inflation calculated for property tax, correct? Does the county website throw out foreclosures when calculating assessed values?
5. Lastly... is it in bad taste to get this home appraised on our own? I respect the owners and really like them, but I really think they are asking too much, especially with the busy street etc.

There's talk of rent credit as a down payment and other things that are motivating us to consider the purchase, of course it wouldn't mean anything if they were upping the price to just give us rent credit (duh). But we haven't been that serious until now (our lease is almost up). So, I'm trying to get my ducks in a row before we start spending a lot of time with brokers and shelling out money for appraisals etc.

If you actually read all that, I thank you a whole bunch in advance I didn't think I would have that much to ask! Please PM me if you want more details. I would love to discuss this with a real estate sleuth! hehe.

Oh, and I guess this isn't about refinancing, but it is about Cary appraisals... is that still on topic? Sort of?

Petunia,
It's absolutely not a matter of taste. It would be foolish to NOT get an independent appraisal when buying from the owner, particularly when you are looking at setting a price/square foot record in the area. And your bank will have to have an appraisal to offer the loan.

I would expect the foreclosure and the family deal to not be included in the comps. Foreclosure should only be used if the neighborhood has experienced multiple foreclosures which are setting price expectations. One foreclosure should not count.
The family deal is not an "arm's length transaction," meaning it is not subject to open market pricing and terms, and should be disregarded since the market did not set the price.

Wake County may have just pulled the value out of a hat. It should probably be disregarded, particularly when you will have a professional appraisal performed.

Most importantly, before proceeding, hire an attorney to review the contract, and to advise you.
Appraisal and attorney, and everything clicks with them, and you are good to go!