I just got off the phone with my bank, who said (appraisal, sales)

[saltzman143]

that with refinances, they are valuating homes in line with tax assessments. I quote:

"We are going with the county appraisers at this time."

This is WAMU, by the way.

So if the banks are going with the county appraisal, is that what appraisers are going by? Is that what buyers and sellers should go by?

[cohdane]

I don't know where you are, but I've been tracking sales in my area and they are pretty consistently selling below appraisal-- in some cases, way below. I sure hope they're not applying this valuation across all markets. It would do a great disservice to people in mine.

[Mike1306]

It is definitely not happening in all markets and with all lenders.

[Silverfall]

WaMu does weird things. I had them tell a client that homes always appraise at contract value because "that is how we do things here."

You should not consider this standard practice, and no appraisers actually look at recently sold comps.

[middle-aged mom]

This has got to vary by region.

There is no universal standard for the methodologies used by county appraisers.

[saltzman143]

Seems like homes in my area are selling for above county assessment.

[dad2jules]

This has to be regional because where I am in NC they do try and put an actual value on the property. In NY where I came from they use a formula to figure taxes- if I remember right the value was somewhere about 10% of what the home was actuially worth.

What they may be talking about is an AVM- which I can't remember specifically what it stands for but, it is an automated appraisal based on public information. This takes into account tax assesors values as well as MLS information to create a value without visiting the home or as a check on an appraiser's work.

[2bindenver]

The county assesses property value.

If Wamu/Chase is taking tax assessments as fair market value, then, I am sorry, what's the question?

[Bonzimir]

Originally Posted by dad2jules

This has to be regional because where I am in NC they do try and put an actual value on the property. In NY where I came from they use a formula to figure taxes- if I remember right the value was somewhere about 10% of what the home was actuially worth.

What they may be talking about is an AVM- which I can't remember specifically what it stands for but, it is an automated appraisal based on public information. This takes into account tax assesors values as well as MLS information to create a value without visiting the home or as a check on an appraiser's work.

Yep, it definitely varies. I lived in one rural county that had a tax rate of 4.9% but assessed property at 60% of FMV. Some localities have some really strange methods of determining taxes.