Trying to estimate value of Home

[jb300]

Ok... I am diligently going through this Nolo book I got... yesterday on another thread of mine I posted some pics of my house....


Per Nolo book...

Part I: Do You Have any Equity in Your Home?
Line 1: Estimated market value of your home
Estimate how much money your home could produce in
a quick, as-is sale. The trustee will often use this value
in deciding whether to sell the home.


My as is condition right now....no kitchen I do dishes in bathtub. Living room would also be considered bedroom at this time because nothing has been touched in the room that will be the bedroom. In fact when you open the door you are stepping into partial dirt floor and holes to the outside of the house. Windows boarded up and broken out. If you see the pics it is the bottom story of the 1 1/2 story part of the house. No ceilings in the kitchen and bathroom yet. No sheetrock taped or mudded yet. Just subfloor in the kitchen and dining room area. No furnace, all electric heat that is not enough yet. 40 degrees in here mornings this winter. Had to supplement with portable lp heaters this past winter. No new siding up yet on outside of house and nothing at all touched on the story and half and it is rotten siding. Wiring has to be all redone, only getting started on that. We have minimal electricity.

The land value on the current appaisal by the assessors office is $3500. Dwelling was 11,800. That was before we got in here and started tearing it up. There was a kitchen sink and kitchen then and ceilings and floors in it then.

This is a small town, population under 200, the house I bought and a convience store is the only housing sales in the last year. An hour from the closest large city. House next door to me on the market for a year last year, never sold. If we had kids at home we couldn't be living in this house in the condtion it is in.

So all of this information... how do I value the current value of this house?

[hamburgervol]

I think you can use the the tax appraised value.

[chad9162]

We were told to use Zillow.com....if it was close to the exemption amount then you could get an appraisal but only if it was in your favor...

[jb300]

how does Zillow work? I tried to go on there a little earlier and couldn't figure it out.

[chad9162]

At the top...just type in your address, city, and state.....hopefully your town isn't too small for Zillow

[chad9162]

Also remember that Zilliow.com and traditional appraisals only consider square footage and not the condition of the house. A Fair Market Value assessment done by a realtor would be accurate for things like having no kitchen etc....

[BKorbust]

Zillow can be very inaccurate (90K above my homes current value). Since you have attempted to do some work to your house and have not yet completed or will not complete the work I suggest you get a broker price opinion. Talk to a couple of local RE professionals and let them know you want to sell your house in as is condition.

[jb300]

I intend to keep this house but will not do anymore to it until after I get through the BK. I love this house and intend to hold on to it.

[justbroke]

If you believe you have, or are going to have, alot of equity in the property, and you can't exempt all or some of it, then you should consider either a Real Estate Agent's Competitive Market Analysis (CMA) or a professional Real Estate appraisal from a licensed appraiser.

So, for example, if you're in Florida, the value really doesn't matter if you have lived here for 270+ days.

Given the condition, and area, I might be inclined to use the tax assessor's value and/or a CMA from a Realtor.

[jb300]

There is going to be little or no equity in this house. I still owe 14900 on it and one more factor in this whole thing is my boy friend is a codebter on the contract. Even if I list it at say 14000 which I think is high for a quick as is sale, in a town that has had no real estate sales in the last year except mine and a small commercial property and in this housing market, I should be ok. If I have to come up with some money to save it, it shouldn't be much.

[jeb]

If you believe you have, or are going to have, alot of equity in the property, and you can't exempt all or some of it, then you should consider either a Real Estate Agent's Competitive Market Analysis (CMA) or a professional Real Estate appraisal from a licensed appraiser.

I have been a Real Estate Agent since 1983 and I would not even begin to know how to come up with a value on this property.

Basically, as you describe it, it is only worth the land value. Most buyers would demo the building.

JB, sounds like you are basically camping out - with a solid roof over your head, huh? - jb

[fltoo]

Agree with Jeb. Worth just the salvage value (cost of land).

[justbroke]

out - with a solid roof over your head, huh? - jb

There are too many "JBs" around here!

[jb300]

Quite honestly that is about what we are doing until we get this thing done which will take some time. I agree with the land value aspect of it but how do I explain that the tax assessor office puts a value on the dwelling? Seriously when we bought it the courthouse stated unliveable.

This house was built in 1885 and I think added on to at least once. When we tore out a wall and ceiling in the kitchen area we found another whole roof under part of the house.

My camper sits right next door that we sleep in but I will not make that mistake again when I talk to another attorney. I sleep in the living room here on the couch and chair and many nights that is not a lie. As far as demo the building after we got started into this many times we said we would have been better off doing that but here we are.

The reason I want to hang on to this is that I love the small town. No payments in just about 2 years now, it is on 2 lots, we can do the work ourselves and at 51 I am tired of starting over.


One more thing--when the realtor we used we used when we bought it brought us here and we told her we wanted it she said most people would look at it and cry.

[fltoo]

The tax value has nothing to do with market value. The trustee wants to know what the market value is so that he can sell it and get some money for the creditors.

At this time, the only marketable asset is the land. Call a realtor in town who knows salvage value (the total cost minus the cost of any structure on the property) and ask what the land is worth.