Property Value Weirdness

[livingdeb]

Here are some random thoughts on the 2008 notice of appraised value I received today.

The city seems to think my house is worth $156,575. That sounds just crazy to me. If a small house like mine costs that much, we'll never be able to afford a regular sized house anywhere near the center of town. I was hoping there would be good houses for $200,000 or less. I guess not.

**

An odd annoyance I have is that I want my home equity to be only 1/3 of my net worth instead of the usual 1/2 it's been, because I should have more diversity. But I can't even keep up!

Oh well, normal homeowners what their property values to rise, for some reason. Even I agree that it's excellent that my property values haven't been changed by the discovery of toxin buried nearby or anything like that.

**

The breakdown of the appraised value is: $101,575 for the house and $55,000 for the land. Last year the land was appraised at $40,000, so that's where the bulk of the increase came from. In 1997, the first year for which I have figures, this property was appraised at $43,354 for the house and $10,000 for the land. In another dozen years, the land may be worth more than the house (unless the house is better by then). Weird.

**

Coincidentally, Robin did a search for the perfect fixer-upper. To do that, he narrowed the range to houses going for between $20,000 and $120,000. Guess how many houses he found and where they were located?

Have you guessed yet? There were zero houses in that price range. None. None at all. Even the most decrepit, disintegrating house on the market is going for over $120,000. Unbelievable.

We're just going to have to make this house work.

**

My new estimated tax is $20/month more than for last year, so next year's mortgage payment will increase by about $40/month. If I save the $20 that I'm used to paying on the mortgage this year but that will not be due, I can use that money (and the accumulated interest: $4 more?) to pay for half of next year's increase. Ha! Like I'm that good!

**

Today I'm glad I bought a house. I'm not always convinced because rents for the kinds of places I used to live are still quite low.

Comments

[sallini.livejournal.com]

In my experience, "normal homeowners want their property values to rise" when they are either trying to convince themselves or others what a good "investment" their purchase was or are planning to sell. I tend to hear a lot of complaints (from Texans) about the high property values and the tax burden they're under.

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

Well, we don't have income tax, so it works out.

I feel like my house is an "investment" only because one day it will be paid off. And then taxes + insurance + repairs should be cheaper than rent. So for me, rents tell me better than property values how good my investment is. And if the taxes and insurance get too high, that would probably be because the house is worth a lot, so I could escape by selling it for a big pile of money.

[sallini.livejournal.com]

A very sane perspective.