I'm in the market and I see a townhouse I like. Do people not realize we can see what they paid for the house ? lol The owner says he put in $7,000 worth into upgrades. Problem is, property taxes since 2010 have no gone up 61%. Therefore, the most he should be asking is $120,000.
Property taxes are based on the most recent assessment. This means the taxed value could be as much as a year out of date. Furthermore, the assessor may not have driven by the townhouse for several years. They typically apply a generic value change they derive from the neighborhood's value change. I don't know if any of this applies.
It does to an extent, but when you look at the overall increase of 61%, it just doesn't seem on the level. Every other townhouse in that area went up at most around 20% and they've sold. This fool refuses to drop his 61% hike. If he dropped to $125,000, I'd buy it today.
There is no reason to believe the property isn't worth that. Current owner purchased when the market was heavily deflated and well below natural prices. Now the market has recovered and many areas are a sellers market. If you don't like the asking price, find something else.
Why are you complaining? He either needs that much money, and will soon be desperate, or that's his sell point. The street I grew up on skyrocketed out of control, reaching the $900,000 mark when I was in high school. Old men who had paid $9,000 for their homes were packing up and heading out of town at that price. I paid $250,000 for my home two years ago, and this year two homes(completely remodeled and repaired to damn near like new condition) have sold for $480,000. About 5 or 6 homes in the neighborhood went up for sale around $450-500k, and none of them sold. Those people weren't really looking to sell their homes, but simply putting the lure out there seeing if they could get it. Whereas when I bought my home the previous owner used a "friend" as a real estate agent, originally listed it at $340,000, reduced it multiple times to $290,000, and I swooped in with a low ball offer. After 6 months on the market and headed to foreclosure, they accepted it, only to receive multiple other offers for $290k immediately thereafter.