All Forum Posts by: Carrianne Mucho

Raquel Pea Do get your license! You are intelligent and I believe the courses will be not be too challenging for you, whether you take the exam or not. Just keep in mind that the classes give you a lot of history, ethics, and law training but not actual job training. I think you will find it at least interesting and I agree with Jay Hinrichs , sitting in a classroom is a waste of time (unless you have a hard time with reading comprehension which is clearly not the case). I have used Allied Real Estate Schools for all my continuing education and appreciate that they offer discounts to returning clients. College can be the way to go if you want to eventually get a RE Certificate or degree - I am pursuing that myself and a bit annoyed that I have to retake so many courses I've already completed (because the college won't accept the accreditation from prior coursework - ah well, it's easy review). There are some colleges that offer many of the basic courses now online. Go get it Girl!! It won't hurt to have it and will give you added confidence and credibility.

LaDarius Owens Check out J Scott's post under Forums/ Investor Basics/ Starting Out/ J Scott's Starting Out FAQ. I also recommend the podcasts...great way to learn while multitasking!

Ryan Dixon Welcome to BP! This site in itself will provide far more information than any course you might take. However, a course might be a good way for you to get a structured introduction to some of the basics and explore different areas of real estate to find out what aspect appeals to you. Personally, I began my real estate career in appraisal, then real estate sales, back to appraisal and now I believe I have found my true calling in real estate lending. Eventually, I plan to do some flipping. What I love about real estate is that it is intellectually challenging because you can never know it all; always more to learn! Since you are close to Sacramento, Los Rios community college has a good real estate curriculum and the majority of required courses are available online. Super affordable; great way to get your feet wet.

Shannon Mendez Welcome to BP! Although I haven't been very active on here this far, I enjoy the podcasts and there are a number of helpful free resources. Have fun and perhaps we will run into each other one of these days!

MICHAEL WILLIAMS Welcome! Congratulations on finding BP, a goldmine of information. There is so much to read here and the podcasts are a great way to educate yourself while commuting or on the treadmill. Have fun!

There is usually no need to pay a CPA or Atty to file a tax assessment appeal. The assessor appraiser probably doesn't have time to visit every property so often completes the appraisal from their desk unless the owner appeals. This can begin with an informal process where they will actually visit the property so they can complete a more accurate appraisal and often results in a reduction if there were issues with condition, functionality, or external factors they had not considered originally. If you have concerns about your property tax assessment, try contacting them to ask for an informal review first - this is free! And from my experience, they try to be fair. Only then, if you have no success, it might be worth paying someone to help you and paying for the formal appeal application.

@Jay Hinrichs travesty!  You win some you lose some. 

I've always wanted to visit SC...sounds sweet!!  

@Jay Hinrichs Very familiar with wildwood!  Got hit hard in the last recession but values seem to be recovering lately...especially lakefront but Nevada County is always a little slow to catch up. 

Placer County is hot right now...tough to find deals. Properly priced listings move fast, land with margins is hard to find and permit fees are through the roof.  We need municipalities to reduce fees to pre-recession levels now that they are getting volume. How are they in OR?

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.

@Jay Hinrichs sounds like a fun project. Developments are time consuming but it is so exciting to see the transition from dirt to completion.