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Tax value in Wake County is hardly relevant to real estate buying and selling, other than computing taxes.
It has no link to market value.
Market value, inventory and comps, ARV, cost of repairs, holding costs, transaction costs are relevant numbers.
But in the case of me finding out if I was getting a good deal on the foreclosure or if the bank was charging the going rate for the condo the tax value did help me know I was getting a good deal because generally homes sale above the tax value or close to it, and this one was at foreclosure below the tax value. (this was not in wake co.)
But in the case of me finding out if I was getting a good deal on the foreclosure or if the bank was charging the going rate for the condo the tax value did help me know I was getting a good deal because generally homes sale above the tax value or close to it, and this one was at foreclosure below the tax value. (this was not in wake co.)
Yes, I can see that in a condo, where the community has a great deal of repetitiveness. If they sell at 125% of tax value and all of a sudden one comes up at 80% of tax value, and they are basically identical, there could be opportunity there.
I've seen a couple of obvious flips on the MLS in Cary in the sub-$300K range - I think I'd avoid them just because of questionable quality issues. I'd rather do the work myself, and know what I'm getting.
Old neighborhoods such as mine hold a strange fascination for house flippers. There are four houses on the market in my neighborhood that were “remuddled” by four different flippers who didn’t know what they were doing. The flippers paid too much for three of the four houses. They gutted two of them, removing all the charming historic woodwork. In another, they put some nasty dyed polyurethane coating over the original woodwork, ruining its gorgeous finish. They put expensive fixtures in the old bathrooms, which were added in the 1950s and were in all the wrong places. They put in new drywall without redoing the very old electrical. In another house, they patched and covered up serious termite damage. They didn’t re-do some bad work done by renovators twenty or thirty years ago. The fourth house isn’t that bad, but just wasn’t done with an understanding of the house’s historic character.
The result? Three of the four houses have been on and off the market for a couple years, with the prices declining and more work being done. The fourth flipper has not budged on his price, but nobody is looking at the house, and at least two realtors refuse to show it because they don’t want their buyers to get ripped off! That flipper previously remuddled a house in another historic neighborhood. He did a lousy job and covered up some serious damage. He was able to sell it to some folks to turn into a “group home.” They didn’t bother to find out if a group home would be legal in that location; turns out it wasn’t because there were two others close by. So they had to sell it – at a loss of $140,000!
Two of the four houses will sell eventually, probably after one more price drop. The other two will never sell for close to asking price. Those fellows are going to lose a lot of money in addition to all the time they wasted.
There was a fellow who used to buy and renovate houses here in the 90s. He had a good understanding of historic architecture, just fixed the serious problems, and made pretty good money. He has moved on to other neighborhoods where the houses are cheaper.
Moral of the story: If you are determined to flip a house in a historic neighborhood, make sure you really understand its value before you buy it. Make sure you understand the architecture and what is proper for the period and what is not, because someone that is going to pay the big bucks doesn’t want a remuddled mess. Just because you can’t tell the difference, doesn’t mean that your buyers can’t. And if they can’t they will consult their friends, their realtors, their inspectors, and their interior designers before they make this purchase of a lifetime. Don’t think you can get as much for your remuddled house as they got for the house down the street that was lovingly restored over the course of five years by its previous owner!
When people do quality work and flip I don't at all. (and it sounds like the original poster would). But when people do shoddy cosmetic work and flip in what they perceive to be up and coming neighborhoods, thereby artificially inflating prices...that makes me mad! Like I said, let the buyer beware - I escaped a money pit due to a great inspector. But in FL (have no idea about here) flipping, particularly regarding condos, had a negative impact on the market. (Maybe the problem is with the buyer and not the seller? All I know is I really got strung along by a flipper)
Yeah see this is what infuriates me. Those old homes really could have been cherished by someone else.
Quote:
Originally Posted by askmisterbrown
Old neighborhoods such as mine hold a strange fascination for house flippers. There are four houses on the market in my neighborhood that were “remuddled” by four different flippers who didn’t know what they were doing. The flippers paid too much for three of the four houses. They gutted two of them, removing all the charming historic woodwork. In another, they put some nasty dyed polyurethane coating over the original woodwork, ruining its gorgeous finish. They put expensive fixtures in the old bathrooms, which were added in the 1950s and were in all the wrong places. They put in new drywall without redoing the very old electrical. In another house, they patched and covered up serious termite damage. They didn’t re-do some bad work done by renovators twenty or thirty years ago. The fourth house isn’t that bad, but just wasn’t done with an understanding of the house’s historic character.
The result? Three of the four houses have been on and off the market for a couple years, with the prices declining and more work being done. The fourth flipper has not budged on his price, but nobody is looking at the house, and at least two realtors refuse to show it because they don’t want their buyers to get ripped off! That flipper previously remuddled a house in another historic neighborhood. He did a lousy job and covered up some serious damage. He was able to sell it to some folks to turn into a “group home.” They didn’t bother to find out if a group home would be legal in that location; turns out it wasn’t because there were two others close by. So they had to sell it – at a loss of $140,000!
Two of the four houses will sell eventually, probably after one more price drop. The other two will never sell for close to asking price. Those fellows are going to lose a lot of money in addition to all the time they wasted.
There was a fellow who used to buy and renovate houses here in the 90s. He had a good understanding of historic architecture, just fixed the serious problems, and made pretty good money. He has moved on to other neighborhoods where the houses are cheaper.
Moral of the story: If you are determined to flip a house in a historic neighborhood, make sure you really understand its value before you buy it. Make sure you understand the architecture and what is proper for the period and what is not, because someone that is going to pay the big bucks doesn’t want a remuddled mess. Just because you can’t tell the difference, doesn’t mean that your buyers can’t. And if they can’t they will consult their friends, their realtors, their inspectors, and their interior designers before they make this purchase of a lifetime. Don’t think you can get as much for your remuddled house as they got for the house down the street that was lovingly restored over the course of five years by its previous owner!
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