Real Estate

Eight months ago I wrote about our effort to get our real estate assessment revised after the latest review. They had assessed us at $244K, up from $155K the year before and $86K the year before that. The problem was, our house is on land zoned commercial, so it was getting boosted in value like it were a business location instead of our home.

Fortunately for us, the equalization board agreed with us, and lowered our assessment to $99,300. Last month, we even got a $300+ refund from the county for overpayment of property taxes for last year.

Now, I'm starting to wonder, again. This house is three doors down. I'll admit, they've got five times the lot we have (1.22 vs .24 acre), but it's on a corner lot and is surrounded on the other two sides by businesses.

It's prettier on the outside (new siding, shutters, etc) , and I'm willing to assume, for the sake of argument, on the inside as well. It has central air, and I have oil heat/window A/Cs. We each have 4 bedrooms and 2 baths.

They claim to have 2500 sq ft, but that sounds like utter rubbish to me, unless that attic is way bigger than it looks. My house is both wider and deeper, and I'd only claim 1400 sq ft in our two stories.

However, it has a tiny speck of a wood frame garage, and I have a hefty cinder block structure (not as ugly as it sounds), plus my 'carport' (boat shed).

They have big trees (mostly pines). I have big and small trees (including 2 pears, 2 cherries, 2 apricots, plus sundry blueberry bushes, etc. plus a 14 ft circumference black oak.).

Anyway, their asking price is $379,000. Huh?