Hi I live in Utah, the utah bankruptcy exemption for house says $20,000. According to the property tax bill I had this past November 2009, it said my house market value is $198,550. I currently owe about $163,700 which makes it having equity of $34,850. Does this mean the trustee will most likey take my house on chapter 7?
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I strongly urge you to get a verifiable market value analysis for your house, done by a licensed realtor. Given the recent plunge in actually values (and depending on your area and how taxes are assessed), there is often a chasm of difference between the market value and the tax-assessed value of a home. So you would do well to find out if this is your case. I know that my eyes almost popped out when I saw the difference between my actual and tax assessed values. -
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so was the difference between the property tax notice and actual appraisal better or worst?Comment
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In our case, the difference was "worse". Our assessed value is well over $400,000. Our actual market value? $282,000. Not sure how things are assessed in your area, though.
Again-get an accurate idea of what your property is worth from a reputable, local realtor who will present value based on sold comps. Don't even begin to look at "listing prices", which often have very little to do with what houses in your area are actually selling for. Don't go on Zillow-the values they place are often inflated and have absolutely nothing to do with the sold comps in your area (that Zilliow actually lists...go figure).
So- while it may seem that you have enough equity to make Chapter 7 difficult, you may not. And, in our case, having this information convinced us more than ever that giving up our home was the best business decision we could make. Who keeps any under-performing investment that has lost so much value and actually continues to do so?
Once you get accurate info, you can get it to your attorney along with the other questions you have.Comment
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