Determining the Value of Real Estate 3

One real estate technique that is crucial when buying or selling Tax Delinquent real estate or any form of real estate for that matter, and that is determining real estate value. We all know that sellers are trying to sell their properties for top dollar and buyers are trying to steal properties from sellers. Let’s face it, you don’t want to buy a property for $200,000 only to find out after the deal is done that its real value is $100,000 or $150,000. No one likes to lose money. We want to build our wealth and in order to do this we have to gain real estate knowledge.

The absolute solid answers will come from a real estate appraiser, but you will have to pay for an appraisal (in many states it will cost anywhere from $400 to $900). If you don’t have that kind of money, or if you’re not sure you want to make an offer on a particular property, you will want to take another approach.

You can easily research on your own to determine the real estate value of property. Just go down to the County Assessor’s office who has sales records of every sale in the county. Most counties and states in the US have a form that needs to be filled out upon Title transfer which specifies how much was paid for the property and whether it was a cash sale or involved a mortgage. Based on what those properties sold for, you’ll get an idea of the approx. Value. You can also ask a professional. Your local real estate office will surely have the comparables in the surrounding areas. Ask them for the comparables for the area you are interested in. You really need between three and five comparables to provide you with a close dollar figure.

If you are dealing with a house in a more rural area where there are no good comparables anywhere close, what you can do is talk to an insurance agency or contractor to see what the replacement cost would be on a particular property. They key is to ask them for a price to replace the existing property. This gives the real value of the property. If you tell them you want to replace the existing structure “exactly” as it is you will have a good number to go by. Once your know the real estate value of the property you’re considering, you can make a much better judgment on whether you want to go forward with the project.