Coop decreasing property value *Update in first post

[Chick Norris]

I feel for you, but that's the way it is all over. We bought our house 2 1/2 years ago and have spent $100k on upgrades (new kitchen/dining room,metal roof, landscape, etc.). After all that our house is still only worth what we originally paid for it.

 

[CowgirlPenny]

I finally got a copy today. It's a complete joke:


Comp #1 600 more square feet. Twice as much land, barn, pond, two car garage.

Comp #2 half as much land, 400 less square feet, off street parking

Comp #3 roughly same land, 450 less square feet, no garage.

Two sold at $127,000 the other at $79,000. How are those comps? Not only is the square footage not even close, we don't have anything the first has and that's a really unfair comp to use. The second was the 79K house. I'm sorry, but comparing us to a "lot" with off street parking in the city is not a good comp either. We are rural with a mountain view surrounded by open horse fields. Plus all three homes are 2+ miles away. When your town is 6 square miles, 2 miles is completely on the other side of town and not really the desirable side either.

The mortgage says they appealed and it was denied. So back to square one and $500 for the appraisal down the drain.

 

[cassie]

About five years ago my place was worth in excess of $250,000. Today it is worth $180,000 or less. Maybe a lot less. The good news is if your value has gone down substantially, you can dispute your property taxes and maybe get them reduced.

 

[Kaitie09]

My mom tried to get a loan last year and they could not give it to her because there are no log cabins within a 30 mile radius of us that they could compare.

 

[Oldfort_mailman]

Gosh if we had known chicken coops lower property values and therefore property taxes we would have gotten chickens years ago. Property taxes are a rip off anyway. It seems ridiculous to not only have to pay a mortgage but also having to pay rent to your state every year. Maybe we should install an outhouse in the front yard...

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
Our neighborhood is all custom homes. When our house was appraised for our loan, the comps. were also all ovewwr the board, but they used the features we had and they didn't, or vice versa to adjust the appraisal, so a house that is smaller by 400 sq ft would have adjusted our appraisal upwards, one larger by 400 sq ft would have adjusted our appraisal downwards. Ditto for features such as the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, garage and carport spaces, swimming pools, spas, fireplaces, etc. They TRY to get homes as similar to the one being appraised as possible, within the same area, but sometimes there simply is no real comparable home.

I agree that the chicken coop is unlikely to have affected the value unles it is a large, permanent structure, and then, unless in bad repair, is likely to increase the value.

Our property taxes are based more upon the land than the home, although there is a complicated formula that does partially consider the value of improvements. I had neighbors who used to live in Michigan, and remember them telling me that people there often kept the exterior in as poor appearance as possible, while keeping all upgrades internal to the house, so as to keep property taxes low.

If you look at zillow.com, and type in your address, it will show you a fair range of value for your house, based upon demographics of sales in your area, and also show you how the value has changed over hte last month, year, 5 years or 10 years.

I am betting that the price has gone down considerably based upon te overall prices for your area, and that without the improvements you have made, that it would be worth far less than it appraised for. That is assuming that the appraisal was reasonably accurate. If you think not, ask for a 2nd opinion using alternate comparison properties. They should be able to reuse the data they have from your home, and if requested within a small timeframe, you probably have the right to get it redone for free or at very low additional cost.

 

[goldfinches]

Quote:
It's so hard right now, with foreclosures and low sales, to get comps. They should have adjusted your appraisal for the land and square footage. I don't know much about mountain views, but around here, water views add value. Being surrounded by open horse fields may appeal to you, but I don't think it will adjust the value of your property.

Can you try to find comps yourself, do the appraisal yourself, then, if it looks like you should meet the amount you desire, request another from a different bank?

We currently own our fourth house. We sold our third in 2009. After buying, fixing up, (2 were repos), and reselling 3 houses, we barely broke even on that sale. 10 years worth of work just to break even. At least we didn't end up owing...
The market is awful.

 

[1MrsMagoo]

A lot depends on where you live. Last year, my brother-in-law who is career Air Force, received orders to a new base: They had been at Nellis in Las Vegas for 12 years. Since they had been there so long, they purchased a home several years ago, which was just under over $350,000 and a bargain for the neighborhood at the time. Fast forward 6 years as they try to sell in late 2009 through early 2010: They ended up with a short sale for....are you ready: $135,000. The military helped them and the bank was not allowed to 1099 them for the difference since he was ordered to move. However, now, their credit is ruined because of the short sale on their credit record. In the rural area where we live, their are very few sales so comparable properties are few and far between: We were barely able to get a loan due to this fact.

The state of the modern mortgage industry is sad. The worst part, is that I don't think this is nearly over. There are so many homes that lenders own and haven't even tried to sell yet: It is bound to further diminish property values in the areas that have been hardest hit. I have worked as a remodel contractor and doing tile/stone and trim work in new construction homes for 15 years: My husband has been doing this for 28 years. I really think that for the time being, people will not see a good return on their investments for major remodel/improvement projects. The only people doing big remodel projects here seem to be living in exclusive subdivisions that I can barely afford to drive into.

 

[Jerseycoop]

I don't think a coop which is removable would decrease your home's value. My bff's hubby is a real estate appraiser it's more likely one of these...
1. The housing market values have decreased over the past two years
2. Your home improvement projects could have been too personalized adding no added value to the home. Best to update kitchen and bath, additions bring the greatest apprasial.
3. The biggest mistake people make is going overboard on renovations in comparision to their neighborhood market value.

Good luck, appraisers are hard to please

 

[Mattemma]

I have always read that you should do improvement to make yourself happy,and not expect much in return when you sell.Lol,my dh expects to get every penny he put into our house,but it just doesn't work that way.

If you can not refi the home just do what you can to pay extra on the mortgage.My mom shaved almost 10 years off hers by paying $30-40 extra each week.

All the homes around us are selling for 80k or less.Our home value has dropped over 20k in the 5 years we have lived here.A few homes sold even at 20k.Nice houses. I saw a FSBO home listed at 123k and laughed to myself thinking "good lucky buddy!" Well shoot if they didn't sell it for 123k while those other houses were sold for far less by realtors.