(no subject)

[radlilim]

I'm very worn out and depressed today. Not quite sure why, nothing really set it off. JP really pissed me off last night too. Not by doing anything different, I just was not in the mood for the snapping at my legs and then hiding under the bed game.

We took 2nd place in the end of the season tournament last night. I had fun, the games were generally good. I'm sad that I won't be playing any volleyball for like 3 months though. Gonna loose all my skills and get out of shape.

I've also recently found out that my house has depreciated in value. I think I might owe more on it than it is worth right now. I'm curious as to how that happened. We've made some improvements to it, the neighborhood isn't any worse, and there hasn't been any flood damage or anything from last year. Someone just decided that my house isn't worth what is was a few years ago. I thought houses were supposed to be a good investment. I wonder if the value is going down so that it is cheaper for Madison to annex us this next year. No matter how it happened, the emergency money I've been saving from my home equity loan is now gone. So if something really bad happens I'll be screwed. Guess I'll have to figure out how to save up a new emergency fund.

Life is too hard these days.

Comments

[exairian.livejournal.com]

It's the economy. Seriously. Mom and I were talking about it the other day because Trevor and I want to take out our Home Equity loan and she was telling me that most houses are appraising at their Tax Value now, not above like they used to. And it's simply because of the market. People can't afford what houses in Madison were going for and so it's killing property values. It'll bounce back though. As long as you plan on being there awhile yet, it'll be okay. I know it sucks as far as emergency fund, but it's just a tough time we all gotta weather through.

I'm just worried about what ours will appraise at because that may kill my plan to pay off debt. I don't know if we have enough equity to consolidate it now.

[jkivela.livejournal.com]

That could be, but I wonder if anyone even looked at my place when they did this reevaluation. I mean did they just do a drive by? Was it in the winter when they couldn't see the landscaping we did last summer? Dose anyone really care?

Probably not.

Not to even mention the repairs that have been done inside, cause unless they went around peeking in my windows I know they didn't look at that.

[exairian.livejournal.com]

For Property Tax Value, no, they do not look at improvements at all. Here's the main question, who told you your home value depreciated? If it was the bank, then they owe you an explanation as to how they came to that conclusion. Technically, I believe they have to order a full inspection of the property. I don't know if they can make that decision based on the depreciation of Property Tax Value. My understanding is that your Property Tax Value is based solely upon the land value and base home value (i.e. 2 story, 2 bedroom house 1 bath yadda yadda) and home improvements are not taken into account, what-so-ever. So yeah, if the bank simply says "well the city/village says they're home value has depreciated $$ and so we'll assume the overall home value has gone done as well" if you wanted to argue it, you could have it appraised. But that would cost you $200-$300. And no, the bank will not cover that cost. :(

[jkivela.livejournal.com]

We found out when we looked it up on the city's website. We wanted to check it out before going to the bank. Plus that is what the property tax from from the city said also. I realize that the econmy is bad, but I thought land was something that kept its value unless something actually happened to change its usefulness.

Moot point really, since we have to go off this decision by whomever made it. This ranks up there with the "credit score" for numbers that don't seem to have any basis in reality.

[exairian.livejournal.com]

Oh, if you got it from the city then, no, there is nothing you can do. Landscaping, home improvement, all that stuff has almost nothing to do with the Property Tax Value. And, trust me, this is a good thing. If you're going to the bank for a loan they will require the house to be fully assessed and they'll give you a different value. In the past that value has always been much higher, but with the economy right now, it generally working out to be about the same or slightly above the Tax Value.

This is something we found out when we were buying our house, you can not use he city assessors site to value a home. Only to find out it's tax value. Completely different things. Which is why you almost always pay much more than what the city assesses it at.

[lurkingheretic.livejournal.com]

exairian is right though--unless you're planning to move in the near future it is nothing to worry about. We went through this kind of crap in California in cycles, the latest just being the biggest and most talked about, with the biggest ripple effect...but really, housing prices there are as predictable as the tide. High tide, you can sell a house in the desert. Low tide, your mortgage is upside-down. So this time was a tsunami. It was bound to happen. The tide will normalize again, especially now that the Special People on high ground felt it, they'll make sure of it.

The economy is actually being felt here in Korea, though the usual response seems to be cutting back on hours/salary (not mine, at this point) rather than cutting jobs. Meaning that a few smaller businesses are going under because people aren't buying little luxuries, which is terrible but not doing any great damage yet.

It's just numbers on a sheet until you need a loan or a new home.

What's the "annex" thing?

[jkivela.livejournal.com]

Mostly I'm upset that the money they gave me for a home equity loan has now been taken away. I was saving the last of it to help me though any tough times, like medical bills, car loss, job loss, etc. And now that cushion isn't there.

While I live in Madison, WI, my technical address is Bloomingrove, which is a small suburb of Madison. We live in a 5-10 block area that is still considered the Town of Bloomingrove, and we are surrounded by the City of Madison. We are being annexed into Madison soon. Which also means our taxes will go up, some of our services will suffer and they will want to make changes to the area, like putting in sidewalks. I will have to pay for the sidewalks on my land, even if I don't want them. And I do not have the money to afford the $5,000 it's gonna cost. I was holding on to the last of the home loan to help pay for that.

The fact that it will bounce back doesn't really help much, when I'm worried about being able to afford things until then. My house might be worth more again, but will I own it?

[maroon-ed.livejournal.com]

Ew.

Any way to fight the annexation?

(This is lurkingheretic, too tired/lazy to sign in with the non-RP journal)

[jkivela.livejournal.com]

I'm friended to both of your journals hun, I know who you are. :)

Nope, it's been in the works before I even bought my house, done deal.

[maroon-ed.livejournal.com]

LOL I guess it's past my bedtime. You're thinking straighter than I am even with a stiff drink in you!!

[jkivela.livejournal.com]

Hun, my stiff drink was like 10 hours ago...

[maroon-ed.livejournal.com]

Damned Voldemort!!

OTOH, got you to use the really well-cut icon...