When we are preparing to make an offer on the home of your dreams, one of the things we will be talking about is what that home is worth. In that vein, it is important to remember that the following values are often quite different for a property:

A property's ASSESSED VALUE is the value assigned by the local assessor, to determine how much the property owner pays in taxes.

A property's MARKET VALUE is the price for which it would sell in the current market based on similar, recently sold properties.

So, the first tip, is not to focus too much on the assessed value of a property you might want to purchase, as that value is often quite a bit higher or lower than the market value. Where we should focus is on the prices for which similar homes have recently sold. I can help you with this as we determine an appropriate offering price for the home you would like to purchase.

One important note is that your lender will (in almost all cases) require an appraisal of the property you are purchasing. This appraisal is conducted once you have started the financing process and you have a home under contract. The appraiser will be doing just what we did, comparing the home you are purchasing to other recently sold homes, though they will be doing so in a much more thorough and in-depth way. Typically, your lender will not approve your loan if the property appraises for less than the contract price - so I recommend that we include an appraisal contingency in your offer to give you the ability to renegotiate the deal, or walk away, should the property not appraise for the agreed upon contract price.