As written about in a previous Allobar blog, The Three Approaches to Value: The Cost, Income and Comparable Sales Methods, the sales approach is one of the three approaches to value used by real estate appraisers and assessors to value real property. As the name suggests, this method uses the prices of recently sold, similar properties and compares them with the subject property to determine value. Its usefulness is dependent upon the quality and quantity of sales of compa

Most real estate tax abatement cases heading to a final hearing require the testimony of an appraiser. Two, in fact: one for the taxpayer, and one for the taxing authority. Sometimes there is even a third appraiser, who gives his or her opinion as to the quality of one or the other reports prepared by the appraisers prior to the hearing. People with specialized knowledge and skill in certain areas, such as the valuation of real estate, are permitted to testify at trials and

Why don’t people file for a refund for their residential property tax? Many people do not know that they can and there are inherent barriers preventing people from receiving the refunds that they deserve. In my last blog, I wrote about two of the barriers that prevent homeowners from filing for a property tax refund (a/k/a abatement) Eliminating-barriers-to-Residential-Property-Tax-Refunds. In this blog I will discuss two more barriers that the experienced professionals at

One key tool used by real estate investors and appraisers to value real estate is the cap rate. A cap rate (short for capitalization rate) is essentially the rate of return on an investment that an investor should receive from an income producing property. With this tool investors can compare different income producing properties based on the income each property generates and the amount of the investment needed to purchase each property. The cap rate is calculated by divid

Golf courses like many other complex property types of real estate present a challenge to determine value. Many golf courses are operating in a saturated market where the demand is not always there to generate a profit. Assessors traditionally utilize the cost approach to value most property types and then depreciate based on age to derive an accurate value. The issue with this approach is that construction costs and material costs/availability are different now than they wer

Real estate transactions are tracked in the marketplace in order to determine what the trends are in certain regions. Appraisers use sales transactions as a source for completing the sales comparison approach for a client’s appraisal report. When the income approach to valuation is utilized as a method for an appraiser’s opinion of value; the net operating income and capitalization rate are important factors. Income producing properties vary in value based on location since t

Many taxpayers are not aware that there is a way to reduce their property taxes on the real estate they own. Filing a tax abatement is an opportunity for taxpayers to dispute the amount of real estate taxes levied upon them. Most taxpayers do not know how to file a tax abatement since this right is not publicized enough and understanding the value of their property is left to the assessors. The value of a taxpayer’s property is not necessarily assessed correctly by the munici

When property owners receive their final tax bills for the year in November or December; they may not agree with the amount to be paid. Although this can be frustrating, things can be done to alleviate this burden, because every state gives property owners the opportunity to challenge the amount of taxes levied upon them; but few actually take action and file a tax abatement. This is due to the fact that this right is not publicized enough, which means there are numerous tax