Question Home Value Documents

[azphoenix]

Hi Everyone. I filed Chapter 13 on April 7th of 2022. The trustee is disputing my home value and wants documents. The Trustee went to Zillow for his home value. Zillow estimate is so high. The trustee just said documents. I'm trying to avoid having to get a home appraisal as they are expensive and all my money is going into the payment plan. Wanted to get some advice if anyone used other real estate sites that the trustee excepted? When I look at Open Door value it's in line with the home value on the schedule. Does anyone have any thoughts or have gone through the same thing? Thank you for any advice.

[notreallyme]

Maybe use the assessed value from your last property tax bill? Most of the locations where I have lived have the assessed value as a fixed percentage of the county's appraised / estimated value.

[azphoenix]

Thank you, I will check that.

[justbroke]

If the Trustee is using Zillow, they probably also looked at the assessed value, since it's free to obtain and Zillow usually has the assessed value as well (in the tax section).

Maybe try to see if they'll take Bank of America's Home Property Value report which is at https://homevaluerealestatecenter.bankofamerica.com/

I think Chase has one as well. You must remember that even Zillow, or Redfin, or Chase, or Remax all use AVMs. An AVM is an automated valuation method and can be high, low, or just right. No way to tell. That's why I will use Zillow, Redfin, Chase, and Bank of America's tool to see if they're in the same ballpark.

Nothing is every going to trump a licensed appraiser, but you may be able to get a Real Estate Agent BPO (broker price opinion).

[azphoenix]

Thank you very much. It seems that all these sights are not a very good true valuation.

[justbroke]

The true value is always what a buyer is willing to pay a seller that is willing to sell at a particular price. Even two different appraisers can reach a different value. The AVMs are a starting point to get a picture of what the value may be. You will need to figure out, as Despritfreya wrote, how to get a true picture of the value.

[despritfreya]

Wait a minute. Do you have an attorney? If not, get one.

Zillow is not admissible evidence as to the value of anything. On the other hand, you, as the owner of the home, can testify as to what you believe the property to be worth. The Trustee cannot testify as to value. Why should you foot the bill for an appraisal? How about the Trustee getting an appraisal on his own nickle? If you want to compromise, you split the cost of the appraisal with the Trustee and agree that whatever it comes out at, is the value of the home. Your exemption is $250k - assuming you claimed the full amount on Schedule C and assuming you have lived in the home for at least 1215 days before filing.

And. . . for bankruptcy purposes, value is generally determined at the time of Plan Confirmation. Values are going down in Arizona - slowly - but they are going down - so the longer resolving this takes, the less your home will be worth.

Get an attorney. If you have one, what does the attorney say?

Des.

[azphoenix]

Yes, I do have an attorney. However, he is not the most helpful. Thank you for the information on the value is determined at the time of Plan Confirmation. That was my thought to was to slow down the process for home prices to true up here in AZ. Looks like the feds at the end of the month will raise rates again.

[flashoflight]

Why isn't your attorney answering these questions? Your attorney is your hired expert intermediary between you and the trustee and should know what the trustee means by documents. If it's because you don't have an attorney, you made a costly mistake already and you need to hire one now at greater cost than if you hired one at the beginning. The money at stake is often much greater than the retainer.

Let's pretend you did hire an attorney and are balking at hiring an appraiser. I would much rather pick the appraiser from my attorney's rolodex and pay $400-$500 rather than let the trustee choose one of his own even if he is paying 100% of the cost. If you have a lot of expensive deferred maintenance, that can be legitimate ammo for your BK friendly appraiser to knock down the value of your home. An appraisal trumps Zillow and OpenDoor. By the way, my appraisal was $120k less than the BofA AVM.

[azphoenix]

My attorney is not to much help. I'm even having hard time getting him to send in the required documents that I gave him back in April. I keep getting letters from the trustee things are still missing and my case could be dismissed. Attorney says no worries, we have time. It's very frustrating and stressful. I'm getting more detailed info from OpenDoor and Redfin with them coming out to look at my home. It's looking more inline with the correct value, not the very high Zillow amount trustee is saying. I will end up getting an appraisal if the trustee does not agree with the new valuations from OpenDoor and Redfin. Thank you for the great information on the deferred maintenance.