Measuring Asking Prices By Assessed Values In The City of Harrisonburg


Measuring Asking Prices By Assessed Values In The City of Harrisonburg
By Scott Rogers • September 8, 2009
I showed four homes in the City of Harrisonburg this afternoon to one of my buyer clients, and as my clients and I viewed the homes we sensed a very strange relationship between asking prices and our perception of their value. That is to say that we didn't sense much of a correlation between what the owners were asking for the houses and what we thought they were worth. To explore the relationship (somewhat) objectively, I thought I'd compare the asking prices to assessed values. But first, here is how sale prices and assessed values compare for the last three sales in the City of Harrisonburg between $240k and $260k. Sold properties are selling for 97% of assessed value --- based on an unreasonably small sample size of three properties: Property #1 sold for $244,500 and is assessed for $240,300 --- 102% of assessed value. Property #2 sold for $252,000 and is assessed for $259,400 --- 97% of assessed value. Property #3 sold for $250,000 and is assessed for $273,800 --- 91% of assessed value. So.....let's take a look at the four properties we viewed today: Property #1 is listed at $239,000 and assessed at only $213,900. The list price is 112% of the assessed value, which was evident when we viewed the home. We thought the asking price was pushing the envelope. If listed for the average of 97% of assessed value, at $207,483 it would have been MUCH more interesting! Property #2 is listed at $249,900 and assessed at $228,400. The list price is 109% of the assessed value. Again, we were scratching our heads trying to figure out why it was priced as high as it was. Again, if it had been listed at 97% of assessed value ($221,548) it would have been MUCH more interesting! Property #3 is listed at $249,950 and assessed at $266,900. The list price is 94% of the assessed value, and this was CLEARLY evident --- the property seemed to be a good value even at the asking price. Property #4 is listed at $289,000 and assessed at $235,100. The list price is a whopping 123% of the assessed value. As you might expect, the asking price on this house was the most shocking to us, which makes sense when now looking at the assessed value. BOTTOM LINE -- the assessment for your property shouldn't be the primary OR only guide for pricing your home . . . BUT if you are more than 3% or 4% above the assessed value, you might want to reconsider your pricing strategy! Receive Updates by Email Recent Articles: Is There A Price You WOULD Pay For This House? There Are Plenty Of Types Of Houses That Exist That Just Are Not Available To Purchase Home Sales By Price Range In The City Of Harrisonburg Are You Compromising On Aspects Of Your Next Home That You Can Or Cannot Change Later? How Much Slower Are The Winter Months In Our Local Housing Market? Rockingham County and New Home Sales Drive Surge in Area Housing Market Find The Balance Between Optimistic And Realistic Home Pricing Room Size Is Difficult To Understand Solely From Real Estate Photos How Much Would You Value Not Having To Prepare Your Home For Showings? One Out Of Four Homes Is Taking Longer Than A Month To Sell
Have any questions? Contact Scott Rogers at 540-578-0102 or scott@funkhousergroup.com
Based on information from the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Association of REALTORS® or its MLS, for the period Jan 1, 2000 through Nov 22, 2024 (unless otherwise noted).
Comments (10) or Subscribe