General Real Estate Questions

Hey Dave, how do I know how much my home is really worth. The tax rolls have it at $129,000 but an agent sent me a CMA that said it was only worth $117,000? What gives?

ANSWER: The tax appraisal on HCAD.org is only an estimate of the value of your home for taxing purposes. No one from HCAD actually came by and appraised your home, so you cannot use that estimate as a measure of the true market value of the home. As an agent, I would send you a free list a all of the homes in the neighborhood that are of similiar size and age that have sold recently. We can then add or subtract from the value of your home based on the comparables (CMA = Comparative Market Analysis) which gives us a more accurate estimate of market value. Of course you can always hire a licensed appraiser and pay around $400 for a formal appraisal on your home. Then you will have an actual written appraisal that shows how much a lender would value the house if a buyer wanted to buy it and needed a loan.