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That other site Trulia, ... I won't use either site for an real information.
JMHO
You can though. Trulia lists recent sale data (for some communities - yes for Southern California, no for Northern Alabama, depends on the local rules) - that is real information - and that's information you can use to realistically estimate the value or selling price of your home. Combine the sold price with the time it was on the market and you can get a pretty good picture. That's what realtors and assessors use when they comp your home. Why should anyone use anything else (if these data are available locally)?
Zillow is worse than useless. Every single place I have lived, or seriously looked into buying a home I looked up on Zillow and the numbers are all over the board, and none were even close to what was actually happening in those markets.
We did find Zillow helpful when we bought our last house to look at the tax values in the rest of the neighborhood without having to go to the tax website and look up each property individually
We did find Zillow helpful when we bought our last house to look at the tax values in the rest of the neighborhood without having to go to the tax website and look up each property individually
Is there any reason the tax assessor's "value" of a home in a neighborhood is a better indicator of selling price than recent sales?
Is there any reason the tax assessor's "value" of a home in a neighborhood is a better indicator of selling price than recent sales?
I doubt that it is. The tax assessor information seems to be good for getting a general idea about the home values in the area for their purposes but the best indicator is the recent sales. No matter what the tax man says your house is worth it is really only worth what someone else would pay for it today. Now, if you are not looking to sell then it merely indicates your tax rate range. I'm guessing that if you combine both numbers you'll get an idea of how mortgage lenders may assess the value of your home. What it would sell for is another story. I'm certainly no expert, though!
Is there any reason the tax assessor's "value" of a home in a neighborhood is a better indicator of selling price than recent sales?
It depends on the community--in our old town the assessed value of the home had to be between 95 and 105% of the market value so the assessed value was a pretty good indicator of a "proper" listing price of a home. When we moved we looked at the tax values to make sure we were mid-range for price with the home we were buying-didn't want to buy the most expensive house on the block. NOW, in this market the assessed value is pretty much all you can HOPE to get out of a sale.
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