Cape Appraisals Blog

The popularity of web sites that give "estimates" of value for homes is increasing.  As many people research the prospect of purchasing or refinancing, they are turning to alternatives to "save money" in the decision making process. 

Often, Cape Apppraisals receives calls from homeowners or buyers wanting to know if the estimate they received from a web site is accurate.  Our first response is to explain to the individual that these "estimates" are not appraisals.  Only qualified professionals can complete appraisals. 

Cape Appraisals has tested several different online valuation sites and found that the "estimates" provided by these sites have differed from the appraised value of a home by as much as 50%.  It appears that by removing the "live person" (the Appraiser) from the valuation process reduces the accuracy of the valuation process.  This is due to most valuation sites only considering one source of information when generating a value for a property.  Most of these sites subscribe to information provided by local public records. 

The reason an Appraiser can give a more accurate value is that Appraisers are actively involved in the market where the property is located and able to apply their experience and knowledge to the property being appraised.  One of the most valuable sources of information an Appraiser can apply to valuating a property is conversations with local Real Estate Professionals, Buyers, and Sellers.  As Buyers and Sellers drive the market, the information provided by them is most important. 

When making one of the most important financial decisions of your life, be sure that it is a sound one by consulting a professional with knowledge of the local market.  Rest assured that the Appraisers at Cape Appraisals are very active in the Southwest Florida Real Estate market and will always be able to provide you with the highest quality and most accurate value.

For mor information and to find out what type of appraisal best suits your situation, please call Cape Appraisals at (239) 458-2463

We are rapidly approaching summer in Southwest Florida!  Along with summer, comes our local hurricane season.  As you prepare your home and family by creating disaster plans, keep in mind that in the middle of hurricane season, our local property appraiser sends out proposed "TRIM" notices.  It is predicted that these notices will create a "STORM" of conrtoversy. These notices will show the county's property appraiser's estimated value of your home.  Please take the time to review this notice carefully.  Should you believe your property is overvalued, you may be in a position to contest this value and lower your tax liability.

However, you must keep in mind that you must prove the property appraiser's assessed value is incorrect.  This burden of proof rests on you!  If you are unable to provide evidence to the property appraiser's office, your request to lower your assessed value will be denied! 

As the appeal process is fairly simple, there are several strict guidelines and deadlines that the homeowner must follow to be successful. The Appraisers at Cape Appraisals receive specialized training in consulting homeowners regarding petitioning to lower their assessed value.  Please contact Jim Kreider at (239) 458-2463 or Toll Free at 1(877) 221-4254 or email Jim@capeappraisalsfl.com.  No matter what county your property is located in, Jim will be able to guide you through the process and ensure you do not miss important deadlines! 

The next series of posts to my blog will address commmon requests or inquiries that our company receives.  I am addressing these issues as our phone rings more often now with requests that we are not able to "just do" as the client wishes.  Please keep in mind that Real Estate Appraising is a regulated industry.  Therefore, we must comply with certain rules and regulations that our clients do not have to. 

If you have any specific questions that you would like to ask about the appraisal process, our qualifications, or guidelines/rules/regulations/laws that we must adhere to, please email your question to Jim@capeappraisalsfl.com. 

Last week I received a phone call similar to this USPAP question:

When Is The Right Time To Buy?

Timing the market is very difficult when we do not have all of the facts.  The next series of blogs from Cape Appraisals will focus on delivering the facts to consumers.  We are in hopes that these facts will assist you in your buying making decision.  If you would like to receive statistics on certain neighborhoods or market areas, please email Jim Kreider at Jim@capeappraisalsfl.com.  Of course you should thoroughly research the history and the trends of the immediate neighborhood of any home you are contemplating purchasing.  Cape Appraisals offers a wide variety of services from desktop appraisals to full FNMA appraisals.  Call (239) 458-2463 for more info on which type of appraisal best suits your needs.

The first market area we will take a look at is Cape Coral.  Cape Coral has seen an increase in sales over the first three months of this year:

January 2008:        149 Single Family Residential Sold

February 2008:       204 Single Family Residential Sold

March 2008:           260 Single Family Residential Sold

Total 1st Qtr 2008:        613 Single Family Residential Sold

This is a 12.6% increase in the total number of single family residential homes sold in Cape Coral compared to the first quarter of 2007 (536 Single Family Residential Sold).  Although, supply still outweighs demand (5,133 Single Family Residential currently listed for sale in MLS), as the number of sales increase, the predominant value of single family homes will also change.  However, with a high number of available inventory, flipping properties in Cape Coral is not a very realistic proposition.  But if you are considering purchasing the home you would like to live in or a home that may generate long term income, it appears that now is the time to do so. 

As with any other major purchase in your life, DO YOUR HOMEWORK!  Please take the time to research the history of the property you are considering buying and familiarize yourself with the trends of the property's neighborhood. 

©2008, Cape Appraisals

When are we going to see the bottom?

One of the most common questions homeowners, clients, buyers, and sellers all ask us is when is the Southwest Florida Market going to bottom out?

The most logical answer that we can give them is that we will know when it has bottomed out about 30-90 days after it has happened.  As objective observers in the Real Estate transaction, Appraisers must make all their determinations based on fact, not speculation.  Therefore, the only way we can answer a question like that is to research evidence of past events. 

To determine whether a market area's values are increasing, decreasing, or stabilized, we research the neighborhood's predominant value (most common sale price).  You must keep in mind that the simple definition of value is what the typical buyer is willing to pay for that particular item.  Therefore, the numbers used to determine the predominant values come from "closed" transactions, not active listings.  Although, we always review active listings to determine the volatility of a neighborhood.

Rest assured that we do refresh our research with EVERY assignment.  What that means to you is that when we appraise yours or your client's home, we will be including the most recent available and verifiable data from the neighborhood. 

Good News!

Cape Appraisals has always had a large coverage area, appraising all of Southwest Florida, from as far south as Everglades City, as far north as Sarasota, to as far east as Okeechobee!  By having such a large coverage area, we have seen the different characteristics of several well defined market areas.  Recently our research has revealed that some of our local markets have seen a stabilization of predominant values.

If you would like to know if your home is located in a neighborhood of stabilizing values, please email your property address to Jim@capeappraisalsfl.com. Jim will reply with a report of high, low, and predominant values from your property's neighborhood.  Please specify whether you are looking for Single Family, Condominium, or Residential Income values.  *The research provided will not be considered an appraisal of your property and is not to be used to determine the actual appraised value of your home.  Should you need an appraised value for your home, please call (239) 458-2463.