How to find true property value?

Another quick question, can a tax assment count as fair market value for a property? I just searched a duplex I was interested in that is assesed as a 60k property by county and the owner is asking 100k. Am I missing something? Basically I’m asking if the county apprasial of the value of a property is similar to that a private appraisal? Does it make any tax difference that this is a duplex and not a SFH?

My consistent advice on this is: Do not rely upon Government (city, county, parish) tax appraisals to provide any sort of realistic property value!

The appraisal done on a property for tax purposes may be 5 years or more old. Normally, the tax office is a handful of people with a whole county/parish full of properties to maintain.

For instance, I just had an appraisal done on a rental property. The appraisal came in at $77K (November 2005). The tax appraisal for the parish is $49K. This is a disparity of over 36%.

The appraisal for taxes should reflect that it is a duplex, not a SFR.

If you don’t think the asking price is realistic, pay for an appraisal.

Keith

Very good point! Another novice question, If I buy a duplex as an investment my costs will be:

Mortgage
Fire Ins
Property tax

Anything I am missing?

Clark

<<[b]Another novice question, If I buy a duplex as an investment my costs will be:

Mortgage
Fire Ins
Property tax

Anything I am missing?[/b]>>

LOL…YEAH!

– Maintenance (I usually figure about $50 a month/unit)
– Management (7 - 10% of the gross income)
– Utilities (may have some utility costs for common areas, water,
trash removal, etc)
– Vacancy (5 - 20% of gross income depending upon the local
vacancy rate)
– Snow removal (in some climates)

Keith