Choosing A Reputable Real Estate AppraiserWritten by Nicole Soltau
When you are considering purchasing a property; either for investment or personal use you will need to hire a real estate appraiser. If you are financing purchase through your credit union or another financial institution will most likely be required to hire a real estate appraiser to perform an appraisal on property. This is because your Credit Union (CreditUnionRate.com)wants to ensure that your dream home doesn’t become a nightmare and that purchase they are financing is really worth amount loaned.In best case scenarios appraisal is returned indicating that fair market value of home meets or exceeds sales price. The problem comes in when appraisal indicates that fair market value of home is less than sales price. In latter case, prospective buyer would either need to drop deal or renegotiate sales price with seller. As you can see, it is critically important that you find a reputable and competent real estate appraiser. That one appraisal can easily make or break a deal. Even if you are not financing purchase through a lending institution it is still worth effort to insure that property you are investing in is really worth amount of purchase. If you should hire a less than competent real estate appraiser you find out hard way later on that property you purchased was not really worth amount that you paid. Real estate appraisers perform an evaluation of a property and then provide a written evaluation after consulting standardized checklists and comparing property in question to county land value sources and sales information on nearby similar properties. The estimation of replacement costs is also taken into consideration. Finally, real estate appraisers must be able to verify legal land descriptions. As you can see, there is quite a bit of work involved in performing a competent real estate appraisal and it is important that each step be performed accurately.
| | Real Estate For Beginners: Residential Property TaxesWritten by Nicole Soltau
Whenever you own a piece of land, you will be taxed for it. Whether it is commercial property or residential property, there is still a tax to pay, whether it is for a village, town, city, county, or state. Most residential private property taxes are handled on local level, going no higher than county. Depending on nature of business, it may be handled by a variety of entities, including state and federal agencies. Each specific area and state has its own way of levying property taxes. This article is intended as real estate for beginners and will focus on property taxes as they relate to residential private property. Your Credit Union financial advisor can also provide a good deal of valuable information; call today to schedule your free consultation.How property taxes are used. Each locale uses revenue earned from property taxes for different purposes. It can be anything from road repairs and utility upkeep to firefighter salaries and emergency response. Most areas, however, use money received from property taxes for school districts. Taxes are levied and then distributed to schools in a district according to amount of money received from property taxes. This often puts homeowners in a bind, as most of them want quality education for children, but are reluctant to vote to pass measures that will result in a property tax increase. How property taxes are determined. Before buying a home, it is important for real estate beginners to understand how amount you pay in property taxes is decided upon. Everyone pays a different amount, depending upon how much a home is worth. The tax rate for an area is same throughout that area, but due to varying home values, property tax you pay may be a little higher or lower than your neighbors. If property tax rate in your area is 9 percent, and your home is assessed at 250,000 dollars, your yearly property tax would be 22,500 dollars. If your neighbor’s home were only assessed at 235,000 dollars, he or she would pay 21,150 dollars in taxes per year. Many areas have specified periods of time required for a new assessment. Most places require a new assessment every five to seven years. This means that your taxes could go up or down as your property value changes. What goes into a property assessment? There are some guidelines assessors use when determining value of your home. By being acquainted with these, you will be more likely to understand why your home has been given a certain value. Here are most common benchmarks taken into consideration when determining a home’s value.
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