Rental Property Investor · Fredericton, New Brunswick · Member since 2013 · 7k+ posts · 4k+ votes
10y
Virtually meaningless.
Unless the local tax authority has a better methodology that most of keeping their assessments in step with actual market value there could be a huge gap between the market value of a property and the amount the local municipality wanted to earn from that property.
Investor · San Francisco, CA · Member since 2016 · 314 posts · 153 votes
10y
It's extremely important when you're looking what you'll have to pay in taxes, since the town/city mostly goes by that value when figuring out your property taxes. Depending on your area you may or may not be able to get that adjusted based on a lower sale price.
Rental Property Investor · Fredericton, New Brunswick · Member since 2013 · 7k+ posts · 4k+ votes
10y
@Wes Brand beat me to it before I could get back here and update my post to re-emphaize the tax angle in my initial post.
Yes, it is extremely important w/r to what comes out of your Levis' each year ... it just has a poor correlation to the actual market value of the property.
Lender · Roseville, CA · Member since 2011 · 205 posts · 86 votes
10y
Many Assessor's do not have the staff or technology to review values annually. And in some areas, they may not even need to legally (prop 13 in CA). They also typically work in arrears (from my experience) meaning when a property sells, it could be 6-9 months or so before they process the new assessment. So generally speaking an assessed value lags the market and is likely even less reliable than Zillow. No offense to the assessment office, it's just a timing issue.
I see a home that has a town assessment at $280k that is listed for $250k. Would the assessment go down if someone purchased it at $250k or not necessarily?
Lender · Roseville, CA · Member since 2011 · 205 posts · 86 votes
10y
@Veronica Pollán I don't know about other states, but in California, they enroll the market value on the date of transfer. This may or may NOT be the sale price. If the sale price approximates what the property would have sold for on the open market with a "reasonable" marketing time, they will accept that as market value in most cases. But @Wes Brand is correct, your local assessor's office can provide you with specifics.