home value

[smith2b555]

I based my home value on my tax assesment and zillow then bumped it up a little because I heard zillow is low. Will I have to get an official appraisal? I have another meeting with my lawyer on Wednesday. the first meeting she did not question how I came up with the value. Is it only questioned if the trustee thinks its worth more?

[justbroke]

Never "bump up" your home value unless you are a Realtor or Certified Property Appraiser. When the Trustee asks how you came about the value, answering "I just bumped up what I saw", will usually yield your personal "valuation" null and void. Either use your tax assessment or Zillow. Otherwise, get a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) from a Realtor.

If you don't think the Trustee will care, use Zillow. That's a recognized source for home prices, albeit they tend to not be too accurate (depending on where you live and recorded sales information availability).

What are you trying to do? Is the home value important to your case? Are you keeping your home? Is there equity in the property (or potential equity)?

[smith2b555]

I am keeping the home. The tax assesment is 122,000 and zillow is 128,000. I owe 116,000. Illinois excemption is 15,000.

I just don't know if I should bother with an appraiser or not.

I have not asked a CMA yet. I know the house down one end of the street sold for 118,000 and one on the other end sold for 128,000. Both are comparible to my house.

Do the majority of people get appraisals?

[justbroke]

No, the majority of people get a CMA, when it's that close and you may have an equity issue. The equity issue being that you can't exempt the equity. In Florida, we have an unlimited homestead exemption, so the value of the house isn't nearly as important, unless in a Chapter 13 where you're stripping a second mortgage.

I would get a CMA since your equity is pretty close to the line. I wouldn't have "increased" the value based on your assumption that Zillow is wrong. I would have just used the "low" Zillow value and let the Trustee complain or order his/her own appraisal. However, if you really want a subjectively better value, then a CMA is your next best bet (and free).

[tobee43]

No, the majority of people get a CMA, when it's that close and you may have an equity issue. The equity issue being that you can't exempt the equity. In Florida, we have an unlimited homestead exemption, so the value of the house isn't nearly as important, unless in a Chapter 13 where you're stripping a second mortgage.

I would get a CMA since your equity is pretty close to the line. I wouldn't have "increased" the value based on your assumption that Zillow is wrong. I would have just used the "low" Zillow value and let the Trustee complain or order his/her own appraisal. However, if you really want a subjectively better value, then a CMA is your next best bet (and free).

excellent advise...you don't need to spend any money on an appraiser and really you want your value as low as possible...not high...zillow is full of it...check you country or a Realtor.com for comps in your area...even go to the county shreiff's site and see what's going on there with actual sales on foreclosures. there's your comps...your real ones.

[smith2b555]

Tobee43
Realtor.com said the value of my home was a little over 119,000! Is this an accurate number i can go by?
Thanks for the site and the help.

[tobee43]

Tobee43
Realtor.com said the value of my home was a little over 119,000! Is this an accurate number i can go by?
Thanks for the site and the help.

glad it could be of some help to you....and...well it's the main site that i know realtors use.... so i would think a few comps from there should work just fine. zillow is full of it...they had my house as a 2 bedroom 1.5 bath house....it is and was 4 full bedrooms with a master suite of over 30ft x 40 ft....3 full bathroom...full gym...10 room house...LOL!!! they said it was worth nothing which was fine for us...but it also had comps in the area that better matched the "real" price of what the house would sell for...which was down by approx 350k......so go figure.

go by comps...and what has sold in the area not what "they" say your house is worth...something is ONLY worth what someone will actually pay...NOT what someone says it's worth.

[smith2b555]

I think they are pretty accurate because they based it on two houses that sold in the last year on the same block as mine and that are comparible. One sold for 118,000 and one sold for 120,000.

[tobee43]

I think they are pretty accurate because they based it on two houses that sold in the last year on the same block as mine and that are comparable. One sold for 118,000 and one sold for 120,000.

perfect!!!! really can't get closer than that!!...then there should be no argument about that...i would print in out...put it with all you paper work to submit just in case you are asked.

[debee]

If I didn't want to spend any money, I would get a CMA too. It doesn't cost you anything and is more reliable than an online valuation tool.

Here's a list I read while trying to figure out how we would value our property for ch7. It ranks the reliability of home price information according to source with the LEAST reliable method listed first...

1. Free online value service.

2. Paid AVM [Automated Valuation Model].

3. Raw comparable sales without analysis.

4. Desktop Appraisal [no inspection of subject property].

5. BPO [broker price opinion] or CMA [competitive market analysis]

6. Exterior only [drive-by] appraisal [no interior inspection of subject property].

7. Complete appraisal with exterior and interior inspection.

[discouraged]

The Real Estate agent I had for my house set me up with another agent who did a free CMA. Showed my neighborhood is all underwater. Zillow said it was much higher. At least with a CMA you have actual proof that your house is worth didily squat (at least mine is).

[LaurieM]

We use the tax assessment value per the auditor's website for every bankruptcy we file, UNLESS, equity is an issue OR we are close in terms of being able to strip a 2nd mortgage in a chapter 13... then we have the clients obtain an actual appraisal on the property.

[justbroke]

We use the tax assessment value per the auditor's website for every bankruptcy we file, UNLESS, equity is an issue OR we are close in terms of being able to strip a 2nd mortgage in a chapter 13... then we have the clients obtain an actual appraisal on the property.

I love it when what I wrote earlier is validated. Thank you for your post.

[tobee43]

We use the tax assessment value per the auditor's website for every bankruptcy we file, UNLESS, equity is an issue OR we are close in terms of being able to strip a 2nd mortgage in a chapter 13... then we have the clients obtain an actual appraisal on the property.

yeap...that
could work! in some areas.

we used nothing other than a guess and it was accepted. we guessed way down...now the place is underwater over 350k we surrendered so it really didn't matter.....but then again the Op wants to keep the house so it could present some issues.

i would also think it will depend on what this district considers valid...i have heard some trustees want one thing while others want another. i would think Op's atty would know what to expect from the district that firm represents. one would at least hope.