BCAD Appraisal Values out for 2012 - How did you do? (Crawford: sales, 2013)

[Rasero]

Just checked the most recent 2012 city appraisal for my house... and flinched. It supposedly dropped in value by $10,000. The entire neighborhood did. This is the lowest it's been since we bought the house back in 2006.

Discouraging because if the appraisal's accurate, it means I'm still underwater. Only encouraging thing is that I'll be paying $300 or so less in property taxes this year. Not a great time to sell AT ALL. Several more foreclosures in my neighborhood definitely did not help with property values.

How did everyone else do? Does anyone else get depressed when they see their city appraisal numbers drop? Hoping that the market really does bounce back in a few years so I can have some hopes of actually selling my house.

[TexasRedneck]

I get HAPPY when the appraisal drops, because the TAX appraisal has little real relavance to the actual property value. Period. If you doubt me, ask a Realtor. Neighbor just sold theirs for 25k over the property tax appraisal....

It's a common misconception that the tax appraisal has ANY relevance to property value. It doesn't. It's at best a guess by someone driving down your street and looking at aerial pictures what your home MIGHT be worth.

[rd2007]

Wow, mine's down over $11K since 2007 and the lowest it's been since then too. It's actually not even $10K more than it was when I bought it in 2002. Good thing I'm renting it out when I move instead of trying to sell it. Hopefully the market will be better in another couple of years when I'm ready to completely unload it on some sucker...

[TexasRedneck]

If you'll check w/folks like Kevin Crawford that frequents this board, you MIGHT find that the value on your place IS up. If you bought in '02, you MIGHT actually have a good chance at selling and having a good shot of at least breaking even, which would beat being an absentee landlord!

That's why it's a good idea to buy w/a 15 year mortgage - by now, you'd be well in excess of your payoff. Not a slam, but trying to give you (and others) something to REALLY think about on the next house. We bought ours in '04 on a 20 year, refi'd it when the rates dropped a coupla years ago to a 15 yr, and then refi'd again this past year to an 8 year. Sure takes the anxiety level down a coupla notches.....

[texasdreamin]

Originally Posted by Rasero

Just checked the most recent 2012 city appraisal for my house... and flinched. It supposedly dropped in value by $10,000. The entire neighborhood did. This is the lowest it's been since we bought the house back in 2006.

Discouraging because if the appraisal's accurate, it means I'm still underwater. Only encouraging thing is that I'll be paying $300 or so less in property taxes this year. Not a great time to sell AT ALL. Several more foreclosures in my neighborhood definitely did not help with property values.

How did everyone else do? Does anyone else get depressed when they see their city appraisal numbers drop? Hoping that the market really does bounce back in a few years so I can have some hopes of actually selling my house.

I'm under water by $17,000 from the purchase price of my land, but I will be holding on to it until it recovers. As for my appraisal, it went down $10k from last year's.

[budjb]

Down 8k here.

[Bo]

Down a few thousand from last year, up over the 10 years I've owned my home. I'm not looking to sell just now and I know I live in a neighborhood that people will want to move to. Looking forward to paying a few hundred less in p-taxes in 2013.

[TXsurburbanmom]

Ours went down a few thousand from last year but it's actually still more then we bought our house for (just a bit under $70 sq ft--in Stone Oak no less, yes we did good ). My husband wants me to try and get it lowered to what we bought it for but it's less then $10K difference so I'm wondering if it's worth even trying. Has anyone ever done this, was it horrible, and if so did it really save you much?

[HeyEng]

Originally Posted by TexasRedneck

If you'll check w/folks like Kevin Crawford that frequents this board, you MIGHT find that the value on your place IS up. If you bought in '02, you MIGHT actually have a good chance at selling and having a good shot of at least breaking even, which would beat being an absentee landlord!

That's why it's a good idea to buy w/a 15 year mortgage - by now, you'd be well in excess of your payoff. Not a slam, but trying to give you (and others) something to REALLY think about on the next house. We bought ours in '04 on a 20 year, refi'd it when the rates dropped a coupla years ago to a 15 yr, and then refi'd again this past year to an 8 year. Sure takes the anxiety level down a coupla notches.....

True statement. Values have indeed come up...if you are in the right area. My SO is a Realtor and there has been a definite up-tick in the market over the last 60-90 days. And yes...assessed value has NO correlation to actual value. Texas is a non-disclosure state on sales prices so you need a Realtor (or someone with MLS access) to tell you what sales prices have been.

[Proffer]

Interesting discussion and opinions about whether tax values are related to true value. Did you all also believe that there was no relationship between tax appraisals and actual value when your appraisals went up 25% or more between 2007 and 2008?