After a Saturday of viewing homes on Cape Cod, the woman I was showing houses to found one that she loved and was eager to put in an offer. It is a lovely home with a waterview and the asking price seemed in line with the assessor's figures that were on the MLS listing sheet.
Since we were not in my local community, I did not know the neighborhood and asked that we wait until I could do a CMA on the house. A major concern I had was that the assessor's figures were from 2006 and this was December.
Well, here's what I discovered: the town had hired an outside appraisal firm to reappraise every house earlier in the year and the assessments now matched the appraisals. The 2007 assessment $90,000 less than 2006's and the listing price was completely inconsistent with it. The listing price was $118,000 higher than the town's updated assessment (the house is in the $500,000 range). In our area, there are not many homes selling for almost 130% of the assessed value right now.
The moral of the story: don't let a client's emotion get the better of them. Take the time to follow logical procedures that insure that they have all the information they need to make an informed decision.
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