Over the past few months we have been hearing the same five complaints time and time again. I thought today, I would share the complaints and our responses.
1) "I couldn't build the house for the amount it appraised for!" A: Yep, you are right. As a matter of fact, current market conditions in both Lehigh Acres and Cape Coral, indicate a 20% difference in the cost to build versus never lived in existing homes that have recently sold.
2) The County assessed value of my home is more than what is is currently worth? A: Yep, assessed values that are currently found on the property appraiser website are values assigned to the property as of January 1st, 2007! That's a year and half ago. Unfortunately property values in SWFL have decreased in since then. So, unless you have made major additions/improvements to your property since Jan. 2007, it is very possible that your home is worth less than the County Assessed Value.
3) The appraised value came in less than my last appraisal which was done just six months ago! A: Yep, values in all of SWFL have further decreased in the past six months. Unless your home is valued over $2 millon, we have seen further price declines in the past six months. Those with values in the $2million plus range have seen limited activity which may be indicating stabilization.
4) My neighbor's house, which is smaller, older and inferior to mine, is on the market with an asking price of $10,000 more than what you appraised my house for! A: What someone's asking price is can be completely different than what the market will actually pay. List prices are nothing but a starting point for negotiation in today's market. In a declining market such as this, very few properties sell for the actual list price.
5) The sale comparables that you compared my house with were bank owned sales, short sales or motivated sellers. That's not fair to compare my home with those. A: Unfortunately in many areas Bank Owned, short sales and/or motivated sales are the only sales occurring. Thus, those types of sales currently represent the market and in fact are a good representation of current market values.
If you have any other complaints, comments or questions I would love to hear them! Drop me an email at: j@capitalappraisals.com