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It seems so many owners have a perception that their home appraisal is the gospel as it relates to value. An appraisal is one person's opnion of value at that moment in time. No two appraisers will come up with the same value.
Appraisers rely on tax records and when those records are whacked, so are the results. They also rely upon area comps. They have not seen the insides of those comps.
Tax records are more often wrong, than right and most listing agents usually state, as our mls states, no guarantees. So, just explain to buyers agents, and when your off too much, it could hurt the comps. I have seen a lot of agents, state, measurements have been orderd, and that usually works as the appraisal will clearify and hopefully not deter the closing.
When you look on line, our tax records actually have a disclaimer at the bottom of the page about how the house was measured. Obviously, this has been an ongoing problem. Here is the disclaimer:
Quote:
* All HCAD residential building measurements are done from the exterior, with individual measurements rounded to the closest foot. This measurement includes all closet space, hallways, and interior staircases. Attached garages are not included in the square footage of living area, but valued separately. Living area above attached garages is included in the square footage living area of the dwelling. Living area above detached garages is not included in the square footage living area of the dwelling but is valued separately. This method is used on all residential properties in Harris County to ensure the uniformity of square footage of living area measurements district-wide. There can be a reasonable variance between the HCAD square footage and your square footage measurement, especially if your square footage measurement was an interior measurement or an exterior measurement to the inch.
I'm wondering if I'm walking into a potential problem. The house I'm interested in is listed at 1496 sq ft, when the true sq ft is 1950sq ft. Originally it was an 1100 sq ft ranch and in 2003 the owner built an two story extention. On the tax assement it's listed as an 'open porch' with an additional 200sq ft.
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