Home buying thread

LachiusTZ

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Prolly 50k total over the next 5 years to keep it rentable for the next 10-15 years. I was already expecting that.
 

Cad

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Any tips on finding past sales history on a home, other than Zillow?


Sales history like price history? Or just who owned it?

Just look at the county tax assessor website and in the years that it sold the value should match or be very close to the sales price.
 
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Porkchop

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Sales history like price history? Or just who owned it?

Just look at the county tax assessor website and in the years that it sold the value should match or be very close to the sales price.

Just the prices. I thought of that, and looked at a few properties, but taxable value is way off from the asking price. For instance, the taxable value is $66K but all the homes in the area sell for around $300K. I was hoping there was something out there like Carfax for homes.
 

Lanx

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Just the prices. I thought of that, and looked at a few properties, but taxable value is way off from the asking price. For instance, the taxable value is $66K but all the homes in the area sell for around $300K. I was hoping there was something out there like Carfax for homes.
the county websites should have current taxes and sales history on the property, i checked all the counties i lived in and sales histories are provided. you are looking for the county correct?
 

TJT

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Just the prices. I thought of that, and looked at a few properties, but taxable value is way off from the asking price. For instance, the taxable value is $66K but all the homes in the area sell for around $300K. I was hoping there was something out there like Carfax for homes.

The fuck? Did home values skyrocket in like a year or two?
 

Porkchop

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Lanx Lanx TJT TJT I think this home i'm looking at is just an anomaly. I don't think it has been appraised in a long time. The assessed value is $66K, but the property is owned by a trust and has gone through a bunch of deed changes in the last 10 years, and the county sites dont show any pricing detail for those changes. Its listed for $269K and my realtor feels comfortable with a $250K offering, it just feels weird not knowing what the past history is. I think i'll do the same search on other properties with better sales data to figure out a better estimate of appreciation in the area.
 

Lanx

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Lanx Lanx TJT TJT I think this home i'm looking at is just an anomaly. I don't think it has been appraised in a long time. The assessed value is $66K, but the property is owned by a trust and has gone through a bunch of deed changes in the last 10 years, and the county sites dont show any pricing detail for those changes. Its listed for $269K and my realtor feels comfortable with a $250K offering, it just feels weird not knowing what the past history is. I think i'll do the same search on other properties with better sales data to figure out a better estimate of appreciation in the area.
give Xarpolis Xarpolis a pm, maybe he's still got some MLS or something access.

is the assessed value recent? you'll see a date of when it's done, note the assessed value is just done by some city joe, heck maybe they just an avg of other home comparables (are the others in area also assessed low but retail for high?)

and like TJT said did values and prices skyrocket? also is your house the "big boy" on the block, idk if you want to be the flagship house, others base shit on (for instance my neighbors priced their homes when they were selling on my houses selling price)
 

Xarpolis

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My MLS wouldn't have access to Porkchop Porkchop 's area. It's a regional thing. All I could do is refer to a different agent, if that is what they wanted to do. This is a unique situation, though.
Is the property a fee simple sale (IE - You own everything?), or is it leasehold? If it was previously leasehold, that would explain why it had lower sales prices, but now is now much higher.

And the situation where others judge their price based off of you isn't really a good or bad thing. The value of a house isn't anything set in stone, regardless of what you may read.
It's a guess. If you list a house for $300k, but someone would only be willing to spend $250k on it, your house is "worth" $250k. If someone would be willing to spend $350k on it, it's now "worth" $350k.
It's all a guessing game. The formula they use to figure out the value is by relating your own house (approx sqr footage & land), with addons like a deck, porch, stream... Anything special about your land that would make it better than someone elses land. New appliances, or maybe ceiling fans throughout the house. Things like that.

They start with a base price. 5 houses of similar size and similar land sold within the last 3-6 months within 1-2 miles of your house. These gathered prices of whatever. Then they subtract the addons like extra bedroom or bathroom, deck, whatever. Then get an average "base price" for similar houses. They use that base then add on your houses extras, and you're good to go. When getting a appraisal, the seller only wants to base their place off of higher value properties in the area, where as the buyer only wants to use lower value prices in the same area. It's a game.

Another thing to consider is that typically, cosmetic upgrades are for you alone. They will not fetch the same price on a resale as you spent originally for them.
 
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Captain Suave

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The fuck? Did home values skyrocket in like a year or two?

Taxable value has fuck all to do with sale price. It's just another lever to pull when they decide they want to extract more property tax. A factor of 5 difference may be high, but I've seen a factor of 2-3 being typical, depending on your county. When I sold my home it was assessed by the buyer's mortgage provider for sale at essentially my closing price and then the county guy came by and assigned a taxable value of 50% less than that, which was a typical differential for the area. (Dekalb County in metro Atlanta.)
 
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Cad

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Taxable value has fuck all to do with sale price. It's just another lever to pull when they decide they want to extract more property tax. A factor of 5 difference may be high, but I've seen a factor of 2-3 being typical, depending on your county. When I sold my home it was assessed by the buyer's mortgage provider for sale at essentially my closing price and then the county guy came by and assigned a taxable value of 50% less than that, which was a typical differential for the area. (Dekalb County in metro Atlanta.)

This is incorrect at least in North Texas, the counties set your taxable value to the actual sales price in any year the property is sold. The values can be off on old properties but not THAT much.
 
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Porkchop

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give Xarpolis Xarpolis a pm, maybe he's still got some MLS or something access.

is the assessed value recent? you'll see a date of when it's done, note the assessed value is just done by some city joe, heck maybe they just an avg of other home comparables (are the others in area also assessed low but retail for high?)

and like TJT said did values and prices skyrocket? also is your house the "big boy" on the block, idk if you want to be the flagship house, others base shit on (for instance my neighbors priced their homes when they were selling on my houses selling price)

The assessed value was from 2018 and was a little less going back each year. Definitely not the biggest house on the block, one of the smallest ones actually.
 

Lanx

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The assessed value was from 2018 and was a little less going back each year. Definitely not the biggest house on the block, one of the smallest ones actually.
yea you need to find the sale history lulz, wtf, if you can't find any info i'll try to do a search, pm a zillow link of a diff house in the area and i'll try to search for where you might find more info
 

LachiusTZ

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This is incorrect at least in North Texas, the counties set your taxable value to the actual sales price in any year the property is sold. The values can be off on old properties but not THAT much.

Thought Texas was a non disclosure state and they essentially guess, and if they guess high you can refute with sales info.

Now that I read that, it makes sense to assess everything high and force everyone to disclose sales price
 

SeanDoe1z1

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Been nomadic forever, buying first house. Seller accepted and I'm rolling paperwork out. Anything that could tank the deal? Already escrowed earnest money and paperwork is moving forward. House built 2015, not expecting much from home inspection.

They wouldn't meet halfway on close costs but would drop price accordingly. I really want the house and don't want to mess this up.
 
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Lanx

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Been nomadic forever, buying first house. Seller accepted and I'm rolling paperwork out. Anything that could tank the deal? Already escrowed earnest money and paperwork is moving forward. House built 2015, not expecting much from home inspection.

They wouldn't meet halfway on close costs but would drop price accordingly. I really want the house and don't want to mess this up.
you are getting a home inspection right? (don't know if you're not doing one, or you expect it to go smoothly)

don't skimp out on it no matter when it's built, newer construction could be worse than 50yr old house, cuz at least the 50yr old house is still standing, while they cheaped out on the construction and you have twigs holding up your foundation.