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Austin Home Appraisal Comp Checks Are you a lender needing to do a quick check of the value of a home to determine if a refinance loan will work? There is a fast, free and easy way to do this: Take a look at what the Taxable Value of the property is. Texas law requires that all counties maintain an Appraisal District department that values properties for taxation from one central source. State law requires the values they estimate to be at 100% of market value. Metro areas with large populations and very active markets tend to have the highest quality and most accurate tax valuations. The quality of the valuations is monitored by the state comptroller. This is different from states like California that have caps on tax values. Texas does not have this, so the valuations you find at Appraisal District web sites in Texas are much more reflective of actual property value. Advances in technology have enabled tax appraisers to achieve much more accurate valuations than ever before.You will find links below to Austin area tax appraisal district office web sites. Many Texas counties now have their taxable value assessments available online. It is public information and free to look up. You can check the taxable value of the property online when you review the loan application and you can even do this during the first contact with your loan client. This can benefit you because you can have an idea right away if the loan is likely to be feasible. These web sites are typically easy to navigate and understand, so finding the tax value of a property is easy. This technique can help to avoid requesting appraisals that will not help you or your clients. It's not foolproof and taxable values are not always 100% on target, but it will give you a basis for deciding whether or not to proceed with a request for an appraisal. An even better method is described below. 1. A new web site has been launched by Expedia.com™ called Zillow.com™ The Zillow site will allow the user to fill in an address and receive a free value estimate that is a type of AVM (Automated Valuation Model). The user should visit their page detailing Coverage Areas and make note of their estimated variation/error percentages. Obviously, this method cannot precisely account for such factors as needed repairs, but the variation percentage should make allowances for most positive and negative property characteristics, with the low end indicating the least desirable situation and vice versa. Click here to access their site. 2. Bank of America now has an online free AVM. Austin Area Tax Appraisal District Links Below are links to tax information for our service areas. Click on the link. If given this option, select the Real Property category, not Business Property. Then search by property address or owner's name. Williamson County: www.wcad.org Hays County: www.hayscad.org Bastrop County: www.bastropcad.org
To find the tax office web site in any state or county in the US click here Why won't many appraisers do a comp check for me? Appraisers are governed by the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice, or USPAP. Among the many restrictions of USPAP is one that prohibits appraisers from accepting an assignment to appraise a property based on a predetermined value or range of value. So for example, if an appraiser does a comp check to find out if a home will appraise for at least a certain amount and it will, he or she cannot then accept the assignment to do the actual appraisal from you. In performing a comp check, he or she by definition has actually already performed a type of appraisal and must maintain complete records showing how and when they arrived at the figures they quoted you in the comp check. The logic of this USPAP rule is to prevent dishonest appraisers from being tempted to over-appraise properties, combat predatory lending practices, and prevent fraud in the market place. The other reason is one of economy. Appraisers are often asked to do as many as 10-20 comp checks a week and some much more than that. And since many comp checks will reveal that the requested value is not feasible, free comp checks can result in many lost hours of valuable work time. Appraisers understand why lenders want to check the value of a property before proceeding with the loan and are not insensitive to your needs, but legal issues and business practicality make free comp checks by an appraiser next to impossible. The two recommendations above (especially the Equifax solution) should provide you with the answers you need to feel comfortable in ordering an actual appraisal. |
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