Do You Need A Real Estate Appraiser When Buying A Home Or Condo?
If you are considering purchasing or selling a home, condo or any other type of real estate, you will most likely need the services of a real estate appraiser. An appraiser performs an assessment of properties and other types of real estate to help establish its value. While there are several methods appraisers use to establish the value of real estate (e.g. cost method, income method, and comparison method), for residential properties, the comparison method (also known as market value) is the most common approach. The appraiser’s job is to provide an opinion about the value of a property based on its “highest and best use.” If you are financing the purchase of a property, your lender will normally require an appraisal to make sure that the property is really worth the amount loaned.
The real estate appraiser is tasked with carrying out a completely objective assessment of a property and will normally provide a written evaluation report. This is accomplished by a physical inspection of the property, as well as a comparison to other similar properties for which the value is already established. To make a determination about value, the appraiser gathers details such as the size of a property, size of the lot, location, condition, best use of the property, amenities, etc.
After this initial inspection, the appraiser may scout the neighborhood to compare the property with other similar properties in the neighborhood by age, size, price range, etc. The appraiser then gathers additional data from several sources such as the local Multiple Listing Services (MLS), which provides information on current and recent comparable sales. The appraiser also gathers information from his/her own past experience in the local market. All of these sources of information are taken into consideration while writing the appraisal report, which will provide an estimate about the value of a property.
There are many reasons to use the services of a qualified appraiser. When purchasing real estate, an appraisal provides you with a negotiating tool and helps ensure that the price you are paying is appropriate. If you are selling your property, the appraisal will help you determine an appropriate price range. Besides real estate and mortgage transactions, you may need to order an appraisal to lower the tax burden (assuming the value is really lower than the value established by taxing authorities), to establish the replacement cost of insurance, to settle an estate, etc. An appraiser only gives an estimate of the value of the property. A real estate appraiser is not to be confused with a home inspector.
If you are considering buying or selling a home, condo or any other type of real estate, you can use the services of a qualified real estate appraiser who will provide an estimate of the fair market value of your property.
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Why Should You Buy Investment Real Estate In College Towns?
Now seems to be the best time to invest in properties in college towns where housing demand is high due to a soaring rental market according to the New rules of real estate by Business 2.0 Magazine. With home prices still out of home buyer’s range, and homeowners selling their homes due to rising interest rates, rents are expected to increase nationwide. This makes buying investment property in rental markets such as college towns an attractive option, one that is already being pursued by investors. Rents are expected to rise by 5 % by the end of this year according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), and investors are looking at college towns with increased interest.
There are two major reasons why it is prudent to buy investment property in college towns now. When compared with other rental markets, the rentals in apartment buildings in college towns are much stronger and hence more profitable. This has been augmented by the fact that apartment buildings in college towns are fewer in number. This demand for apartment buildings has also increased due to the rising admissions in colleges mostly from the Gen Y or the echo boomers, which has further increased the asking rates in the college town rental markets. These properties have a low vacancy rate, especially in buildings located near the campuses. Investors in commercial apartment buildings also get to increase their rent with the mounting demand making such investment a highly profitable venture.
So if you are a prospective landlord who has decided to encash this favorable situation, then you can start with choosing the college town that has the lowest ratio of university-owned beds to the student population. As Michael Zaransky, co-founder of Prime Property Investors in Chicago says, prospective investors would do well to pick the college towns that have the ratio of university-owned beds to students at 30 % or lower. One should also look into colleges that propose to expand their student ranks by 2 or 3 % every year.
Investors should also need to take into consideration the disadvantages involved in owning commercial apartment buildings in college towns. The business could be trying sometimes, and involves risks with college policies liable to changes and the difficulty involved in predicting volatile student demand. However, considering the high rate of returns that the investment has to offer, the pros seem to far outnumber the cons making buying investment property in college towns a smart option.
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Austin’s Identity Crisis for Downtown Austin Real Estate
I don’t know if you’ve noticed— it’s certainly hard to miss— but the landscape around Austin is changing. As is the skyline. As is the… well, the feel of the city. The flavor.
Some Austinites are not excited about the changes going on. The corporations moving in, the family-owned and operated businesses go down while the thirty-six story condos go up. People who have lived here all their lives (or even just more than ten years) say that this is a different city than the one they remember. Back when they might not even have called Austin a “city.”
There was a time when Motorola was just a type of phone people had, not a place where they worked. When video games were a thing people played, not designed. Where Dell was a thing from a song about a farmer, not a computer company. In short, there was a time when Austin was a big, friendly village where everyone seemed to know everyone.
Now, it’s hard to see the sky without noticing the foreboding skeleton of an incoming condominium projects or a crane in your periphery. Developers are buying up land and displacing local businesses in order to get the best spot downtown for a high rise that will dwarf all the others, that will sell for more money, that will be nicer and closer to all the downtown Austin attractions.
But what are those attractions?
There will always be a Congress Bridge, and so there will always be bats. But will people want to walk from the Sheraton to see them, then get a drink at the Coyote Ugly Saloon franchise? Will they want to eat at the Baby Acapulco’s? What will make the town special when Las Manitas is gone, when all the little businesses that got us to this point are gone, and the only choices for restaurants are in the lobbies of the newest hotels?
What will make Austin Austin? It’s a good question.
It’s easy to see that the city has lost some its appeal. Its uniqueness, its originality. Big business has a way of doing that. But is it so bad? Is it really true that there will be nothing left?
Those small, local places brought people here, it’s true. And they certainly gave Austin its flavor. But millions more people are here now. The city has grown by leaps and bounds. People still need places to live. And the more people there are, the more money is being spent. There is much to be thankful for when we think about this new “bigger” Austin. The Austin real estate market values go up. Many businesses prosper. The city has more money to improve infrastructure and city services like parks. Its hard to allow it to change some of what we love, and some of the changes I’m not happy with. But overall I think it will be okay.
The key is that the people are still here. The same people that made Austin the coolest city in the… well, in my opinion in the entire country —are still here. They’re still waving at you from their yard, still smiling at you on the street. The buildings aren’t the personality in the city —the people in them are. So let’s make sure those people don’t go anywhere, and we’re all gonna be just fine. Yes, we may have to part with a couple businesses and landmarks dear to our hearts, but as long as Austinites keep true to what we love about this city, we will retain the part of our identity that is the most important.