Trying To Avoid A Hassle - Appraisel
Newbie question here - I have a hang up right now so heres the question and if at all possible, please help me work thrue it.
Say I go to a home and the seller is motivated and asking $100k but im not sure what I can offer to make it work from an investors standpoint. Do I simply offer their asking price and perform my due diligence and renegotiate later based on what I find? I know its important to lock up the property and try to leave with signed papers. The only other method I can think of is after locating the property, get some comps, but until you visit an see the inside condition, I think I would still be at a loss as to what my ceiling price would be. Any help would be appreciated. Thx
You should try to have a CMA )Comparative Market Analysis done prior to going over to the house in the first place, at the minimum, you should have educated yourself with regards to real estate values in your target area. This is something you can do yourself. You can look in the paper under "homes for sale"
and take note of the prices in different areas.
If you have access to it, the county assessors office may have assessed values listed. These will normally be way low, but you can use them to interpolate approximate values once you can determine a range that they run under value. The county recorders office may have information regarding recent sales in the area you are looking in. And then there are good ole comps from a real estate agent or REALTOR. And best of all is experience. Lacking experience in the area you will be investing, you'll have a more limited understanding of property values, but you should be able to develop a "feel" for value. You can call other listings nearby, and ask what the houses are listed for, Sq ft etc. to get a general idea. You could ask the homeowner how they arrived at their asking price etc. All of these things will help you with this.
Remember, this will only get you close any way, and an appraisal is nothing more than an estimate of value by a professional.
These ideas will not tell you what the exact value of any particular house is either, but you'll know if you're in a potentially "screamin good deal", or really bad deal right away.
While appraisals are important, as banks and finance companies use them to help determine the amount that that they will loan on a house etc. they are not the only way to establish value.
Good luck,
Jeff
Hey Jeff,
Have you found any good online 'comp' websites for AZ property? Or any other "do it yourself" CMA resources?
I find that the assessor is usually right around 75% of FMV in my area.
Good luck to you!
pat
If it looks like a deal, I tie it up subject to an appraisal - it's $325 well spent.
Having been an appraiser may I suggest that you look to your own value judgement. I was a member of a very prestigous organization the MAI, Member of the Apraisal Institute, known more localy as "Made As Instructed." But appraisals are only friendly crutches. You really must know the market values of the area.
You can always go to your local Real Estate Maven and ask to hang out as you think you might like to be involved in real estate. Other then the terminal arrangement where they bury you and stick some form of symbol on the mound.
Slow down and do the field work, besides it is interesting and you will meet all kinds of people. Good, bad, smart, stupid, you know all kinds of people.
Spasmoticaly Lucius
pataz,
the maricopa county assessors site will allow you to pull up comps of recent sales. That doesn't help you much in Tucson though. You may get lucky and yours might be set up the same way. Other than that, I've got nothing that's state wide, Sorry,
Good luck,
Jeff