abbazwoman
Freshman Member
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2008
- Professional Status
- General Public
- State
- Texas
I'm not trying to ask you to boil all your professional experience and knowledge into one paragraph, but here's my scenario:
I bought my home almost 5 years ago in a SW suburb of Dallas for $130,000. It was built in 1967, It has an addition and was completely renovated 2 years prior to my purchase because of an electrical fire from aluminum wiring. It is literally a new house on an old foundation.
I am disabled. I was divorced last year and would have refinanced earlier, but there is a 5 yr prepayment penalty in the note that I was unaware of until closing. According to a prominent realtor in my area, property values rose and fell since my purchase. She ran comps on my home to get a dollar value per sf and tells me that it is now worth only $121,000, which is less than I owe on it. I looked at the homes that she pulled on the comps. All of them were in my specific subdvision. A number were foreclosures. One sold for $59,000 because it didn't have complete plumbing. My house is aytpical for my specific subdivision.
The county assessor values my home at $128,000 and Zillow values it at $131,000. I need to reduce my mortgage payments. I was considering selling the house, but after the discussion with the realtor, it seems that I would be much better off refinancing. I am wondering whether I can get a no-cost mortgage, but if the house doesn't appraise because of what is going on in my subdivision (rather than my neighborhood) I'm concerned that I won't be able to get a mortgage. I owe $123,000. Now my question: What can I expect the appraiser to consider? Would I damage myself by protesting my property value for tax purposes? Should I tell my insurance company that I am now overinsured based on property values? It seems that I am in a no-win situation. Please advise. Thank you.
I bought my home almost 5 years ago in a SW suburb of Dallas for $130,000. It was built in 1967, It has an addition and was completely renovated 2 years prior to my purchase because of an electrical fire from aluminum wiring. It is literally a new house on an old foundation.
I am disabled. I was divorced last year and would have refinanced earlier, but there is a 5 yr prepayment penalty in the note that I was unaware of until closing. According to a prominent realtor in my area, property values rose and fell since my purchase. She ran comps on my home to get a dollar value per sf and tells me that it is now worth only $121,000, which is less than I owe on it. I looked at the homes that she pulled on the comps. All of them were in my specific subdvision. A number were foreclosures. One sold for $59,000 because it didn't have complete plumbing. My house is aytpical for my specific subdivision.
The county assessor values my home at $128,000 and Zillow values it at $131,000. I need to reduce my mortgage payments. I was considering selling the house, but after the discussion with the realtor, it seems that I would be much better off refinancing. I am wondering whether I can get a no-cost mortgage, but if the house doesn't appraise because of what is going on in my subdivision (rather than my neighborhood) I'm concerned that I won't be able to get a mortgage. I owe $123,000. Now my question: What can I expect the appraiser to consider? Would I damage myself by protesting my property value for tax purposes? Should I tell my insurance company that I am now overinsured based on property values? It seems that I am in a no-win situation. Please advise. Thank you.