Real estate General topic

[two_bit_score]

Right now I think Nick Gerli and Reventure App have the best data.

Reventure App: Housing Market Forecasts for 2026

The #1 Housing Market Data tool, allowing Homebuyers and Investors to Analyze Historical Trends and view Home Price Forecasts by ZIP Code.

www.reventure.app

 

[paulsharvey]

I saw a story yesterday afternoon, about a large, mixed use development going bankrupt in Gainesville. My old project manager, left the company we were both at, and he started his own gig, few apartments, and then a Massive commercial one. Last night, I did some googling; and apparently he/his company owe upto $500 million dollars, and their total assets are as low as $10 million...

 

[WinterDeere]

Right now I think Nick Gerli and Reventure App have the best data.

Reventure App: Housing Market Forecasts for 2026

The #1 Housing Market Data tool, allowing Homebuyers and Investors to Analyze Historical Trends and view Home Price Forecasts by ZIP Code.

www.reventure.app

Got stopped with a requirement to sign up, but what little I saw prior to that indicates its more about area trends, than individual home prices.

Besides, from where would they be getting this "better data" on individual homes? If my township has the size and layout of my house all wrong in the assessment, and everyone is pulling from that, then it is what it is... right?

The funny thing is that we have gone to our township for permits, in one case for adding a second floor to our carriage barn, and their zoning officer turned us away with a "I'm not going to bother with that." So it's no wonder the house has two more bathrooms, an extra bedroom, and 2500 square feet more than any of these sites show... he probably told all prior owners the same thing!

 

[two_bit_score]

Got stopped with a requirement to sign up, but what little I saw prior to that indicates its more about area trends, than individual home prices.

Besides, from where would they be getting this "better data" on individual homes? If my township has the size and layout of my house all wrong in the assessment, and everyone is pulling from that, then it is what it is... right?

The funny thing is that we have gone to our township for permits, in one case for adding a second floor to our carriage barn, and their zoning officer turned us away with a "I'm not going to bother with that." So it's no wonder the house has two more bathrooms, an extra bedroom, and 2500 square feet more than any of these sites show... he probably told all prior owners the same thing!

Yes he is selling the full kit to real estate agents, investors but some is 'free'. I also follow him on X.

 

[two_bit_score]

Besides, from where would they be getting this "better data" on individual homes? If my township has the size and layout of my house all wrong in the assessment, and everyone is pulling from that, then it is what it is... right?

It's not going to help you pinpoint your house but you can narrow it down by zip code and get some info for free. I see it as useful and accurate for trends in different markets. They collect data from Redfin, etc.

If you are looking for actual sales data the best source that I know of for that is the local MLS (Multiple Listing Service) that is used by Realtors and that will require you to be a member of the local Board of Realtors.

But you can always ask a friendly Realtor to run a list of comps in your neighborhood and that can help you pin down a better value.

 

[two_bit_score]

The funny thing is that we have gone to our township for permits, in one case for adding a second floor to our carriage barn, and their zoning officer turned us away with a "I'm not going to bother with that." So it's no wonder the house has two more bathrooms, an extra bedroom, and 2500 square feet more than any of these sites show... he probably told all prior owners the same thing!

There is not really any logical explanation for what some of these tax bureaucrats do. I have seen so much it makes my hard spin.

I try to get people to get involved and change things all they want to do is complain.

 

[WinterDeere]

There is not really any logical explanation for what some of these tax bureaucrats do. I have seen so much it makes my hard spin.

I try to get people to get involved and change things all they want to do is complain.

Human nature. In my particular case tho, it was the opposite… that zoning officer was such an easy push-over, that we never wanted him to retire! Unfortunately he did, and now all the neighbors are afraid to deal with the energetic new guy, expecting he’s going to aim to clean up a lot of his prior’s sins.

 

[Mi-Troll]

I did look at Zillow and realized that many times the data was way off, my neighbor's house was listed as 1500 square larger than it really is. I came across the county's website for the deed information, one can search by the area, street or by the house and after some in-depth searches, a pattern became clear.

As mentioned in the OP, my street is a newer portion of the subdivision by about 20 years and is split into two by an entrance road. The older portion of the sub is mostly ranch style homes with some larger colonials.

The one end of my street has seven houses, six are all identical and within 86 square feet of each other. The average price of these homes is $363K with a price per square ft of $151. The seventh house is much larger, 5244 square feet and with a market value of $116 per square ft. My first thought was that maybe this was some kind of anomaly, so I checked every house on my street and that is when I realized that the smaller the square foot house, the higher per square foot price. The average square foot was 2400 and the market average value is $157. The smallest house is 1860 square feet with a price per foot of $177 while the next largest house to mine is 2882 and the price per square foot of $133. Ok, maybe it's just my street.

I checked the three largest houses in the older sub and sure enough, the same pattern appeared so I went a couple of miles away and found the same deltas. At this point, I think my original assessment that for a street or maybe an area, there's a mean price regardless of size. The home I mentioned that is 5244 square foot and with a market value of 116 per foot can't sell their house for the same price per square foot as every other house on their street. If selling their home for the same market value as all of their neighbors, it would increase their market value by about $175K.

Just about everywhere one goes, there's an older sub with extra land or someone sells their vacant, someone comes in and build a huge home, three to four times large than the neighbors. I just seen this, a house (2 miles away) that is 6989 square feet built next to a house that is 1588 square feet, they say that when a larger house is built, it raises the property values of the surrounding smaller houses. This huge house market value is $116 per ft while the neighbor's house is $177. It appears that by doing so, it also lowers the market value of the larger house.

Spending the amount of money that this person did to build this huge house where they did, what would be the advantage of doing so? How can one possibly get a fair comp when they want to sell their house and not take a bath? Hoping someone with far more experience than I do explain this me.

 

[two_bit_score]

Hoping someone with far more experience than I do explain this me.

It's pretty simple. The Appraisal district appraisers manipulate the data to get the overall value to where they need it to be so the tax entities don't have to increase tax rates drastically to fund their essential services and all the non-essential 'gimmie' projects they want. IT IS A SCAM.

 

[ultrarunner]

Sometimes absentee owners take a bigger hit… at least in my limited WA experience.

 

[two_bit_score]

Sometimes absentee owners take a bigger hit… at least in my limited WA experience.

Anyone who doesn't protest frequently will suffer from "appraisal creep" and that is most often absentee owners.

Those who are assertive and well prepared enough to appeal the determination of the initial Appraisal Review Board to arbitration or court and wins more often than not will eventually put enough fear into the Appraisal district that their routine appraisals are not routinely increased and when they are it's very moderate. This is because it costs the District money when they lose those appeals and more eyes are on the case outcomes.

 

[ultrarunner]

Anyone who doesn't protest frequently will suffer from "appraisal creep" and that is most often absentee owners.

Those who are assertive and well prepared enough to appeal the determination of the initial Appraisal Review Board to arbitration or court and wins more often than not will eventually put enough fear into the Appraisal district that their routine appraisals are not routinely increased and when they are it's very moderate. This is because it costs the District money when they lose those appeals and more eyes are on the case outcomes.

I’ve never lost a California appeal but in WA it gets old fast appealing almost every year…

When my home was rented it was 9 months rent to cover property tax…

In California it 2 to 4 months to cover property tax which seems backwards.

 

[two_bit_score]

I’ve never lost a California appeal but in WA it gets old fast appealing almost every year…

When my home was rented it was 9 months rent to cover property tax…

In California it 2 to 4 months to cover property tax which seems backwards.

I can see where several things might be the cause of that discrepancy but what do you attribute it to?

 

[ultrarunner]

I can see where several things might be the cause of that discrepancy but what do you attribute it to?

In California voters passed Proposition 13 decades ago which limits inflation annual adjustment to 1% and new assessments require voter approval.

Washington had similar voter approved property tax limit called I-747

A single judge in King county gutted I-747 and I saw my WA taxes triple in 20 years… plus when I bought in WA I had 2 additional homesites that no longer exist due to newly imposed wetland setbacks.

 

[kenmbz]

When I was in NJ we fought the tax hike and won.
So our taxes did not go up $1000 that year.

So many people won, that they changed the appeal rules to a difference of More than $150,000 between appraisal and comps.

Effectively shutting down any ability to appeal.

 

[WinterDeere]

Spending the amount of money that this person did to build this huge house where they did, what would be the advantage of doing so? How can one possibly get a fair comp when they want to sell their house and not take a bath? Hoping someone with far more experience than I do explain this me.

Smaller houses always earn more per sq. ft., because there are the fixed costs of location, land, services, etc. The other factor is that a smaller or cheaper house built in a more expensive neighborhood is much more desirable to those shopping smaller and cheaper houses, than is a large expensive house built in a neighborhood of otherwise smaller and cheaper homes. Too many people (women?) seem to get off on living among those of a higher class or wealth, than surrounded by and associating with those with less.

 

[ultrarunner]

When I was in NJ we fought the tax hike and won.
So our taxes did not go up $1000 that year.

So many people won, that they changed the appeal rules to a difference of More than $150,000 between appraisal and comps.

Effectively shutting down any ability to appeal.

My county in California had so many appeal they instituted a filing fee… county has 2 years to hold hearing and if refund ordered then another 6 months to pay…

County used all 30 months to refund overpayment on my last appeal…