Seller Tips Archives - Page 6 of 18

Property Assessments, Are Taxes Going Through the Roof?

June 14, 2022 By Tayson Rockefeller Leave a Comment

Unless you were living under a rock for the past 2 years (which might have been nice) you probably know that property values are up significantly. Until now, we haven’t seen County assessed values follow suit. With the recent release of 2022 assessed values, many are concerned that property tax increases are soon to follow. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that your tax bill is going to go up proportionately.

In Idaho, each county is allowed to increase its property tax budget by up to 3% of the highest property tax budget of the past 3 years. The county can also increase their budget to account for new growth.

In order to calculate the tax rate, each taxing district within the county (Teton County has 18 taxing districts that each have slightly different budgets and needs) determines a levy, or the rate of which the county will multiply the assessed value to determine each property’s annual tax bill.

As an example, let’s say that district 1 has a total budget of $900k. In 2021, the total market value of every property in district 1 is $70m. To determine the levy, we would simply divide 900k by 70m, or 1.287%. If your assessed value is $300k, we simply multiply that by 1.287% to arrive at your 2021 tax amount of $3,861.

Now, let’s run a hypothetical based on what we are seeing today. We know that the total budget is going to increase with the new growth and the state’s allowance to increase the budget by up to 3% (ahem, inflation). Let’s assume that the new budget is $990k, and the collective value of all properties has risen to a whopping $110m. Using the same math, we divide $990k by $110m and arrive at 0.9%. Your value went from $300k to $450 this year. The math puts your 2022 tax bill at $4,050. While your tax bill has risen, it hasn’t risen 150% like your assessed value has.

The good news? Property values are up, and I know an agent that would love to sell your house.

Key Dates:

Mid-November – Current year tax bills mailed
December 20th – FIRST HALF TAX PAYMENT DUE
March 15th – Agricultural Exemption Applications Due
April 15th – Application deadline for Hardship Tax Relief or Circuit Breaker Program
April 15th – Application deadline for Homeowner’s Exemption
June 20th – SECOND HALF TAX PAYMENT DUE
First Monday in June – Assessment notices sent out
Last Monday in June – Last day to appeal current year’s property values
Summer – County begins planning budget for following year
Second Monday in September – County certifies budget

Application for Agricultural Exemption

Agricultural Lease Agreement

Interest Rates, Ideas for Buyers and Market Impacts

May 6, 2022 By Tayson Rockefeller Leave a Comment

It’s no secret, interest rates are definitely on the rise, and likely will continue to do so. It’s interesting hearing about all of the potential impacts. A lender friend of mine provided some good insight recently. Interest rates are still very low from a historical standpoint, and there are still some great ways to minimize the impacts of rising rates. These include mortgage points that come with a variety of options and the ability to have these points negotiated into a transaction or even paid by the seller. A mortgage point is effectively a way to buy down the interest rate up front. This can be a great tool to help buyers keep up with today’s real estate prices, which don’t seem to be going down despite interest rates creeping up. Buying mortgage points can also work well for buyers that intend to keep their loans long-term. Typically a “point” is equivalent to 1% of the purchase price and that will usually reduce the interest rate anywhere from 1/8 to 3/8 of a percent. Other options include a 2-1 (or even a 3-2-1) buy down which reduces the first year by 2 points in the second year by one point, which is where the highest amount of interest is paid on a loan while the principal of balance is still high.

Obviously interest increases are coming as a way to combat inflation, and it’s probably the lesser of two evils. Interestingly, supply chain issues, high building costs and other factors on the supply side are keeping new inventory at bay. Whereas real estate is primarily supply and demand based, this has created an interesting dynamic for both buyers and sellers. Personally, I do believe that the cumulative total of these issues will have an impact on the market, but without the increase of supply, I’m interested to see how much (if any, I should add).

Marketing Backfires in a Seller’s Market

January 26, 2022 By Tayson Rockefeller Leave a Comment

Notwithstanding some recent market volatility, looming interest rate hikes and other noteworthy news headlines, supply remains incredibly low and demand is as high as ever here in Teton Valley. While the market likely won’t always be in this predicament, I believe this advice will remain pertinent for many market cycles to come.

Getting back to the subject line here, we’ve grown accustomed to allowing the market to “autocorrect” when it comes to listing properties, at least listing them too low. If we know the last sale for something was $100,000, and it was more than a couple of months ago, we usually anticipate multiple offers at or above that number. With this consideration I arrive at my first no-no;

Listing too high

This can be a delicate balance, particularly when we know that the market increases month by month. We almost have to anticipate how much it has increased but not overshoot. Overshooting typically results in “days on market”, and the general conclusion by the public is that there is something wrong with the property. Days on market can be normal in normal markets, but detrimental in hot markets.

Anticipating multiple offers

I’ve seen this one happen a few times over the past 12 months. Just because the market is hot doesn’t mean that it can’t be eclipsed by random happenings. Real estate markets always come and go in waves and cycles. It’s strange how everybody looks at real estate at the same time, and oftentimes we find that people aren’t looking at the same time. Marketing a property stating that you are “accepting offers through Tuesday at noon” when you don’t actually have an offer might deter the only person looking at the house.

Overdoing itThis one’s hand in hand with the scenario above, but overdoing it can sometimes create a marketing issue. For example, scheduling an open house with a tagline of “multiple buyers expected, showings limited between 12 to 3:00” might also detour someone that isn’t interested in bidding against multiple buyers, even when there aren’t multiple buyers. Scheduling too many open houses is also a signal that the activity was less than expected, almost as if sellers are begging for buyers, we don’t want to give that impression.

Measuring the Value of Land by Price per Acre

November 28, 2021 By Tayson Rockefeller Leave a Comment

I have been meaning to draft this article for quite some time, it is one of those articles that’s relevant in any market. That is, valuing a particular piece of property based on a cost analysis per acre. This is a measure that we will sometimes use when valuing large farm acreages. For us working in the industry, that’s usually where it stops. For others, that methodology trickles down into residential property which in my opinion, is usually not appropriate. I share this opinion with most when discussing values, but usually when customers, be it Buyers or Sellers, start forming their own opinion it’s hard to get them to change their perspective. For Buyers, it’s a way of arguing the value down, and for Sellers the opposite. I’ve heard this a few times…

Anyway. A local analogy I often use as an example is a development between Driggs and Victor. It’s really one large interconnected development with two phases, but it was organized as two separate adjoining developments that share the same rules and regulations. The East half/development comprises 2.5 acre lots and the West half comprises 1 acre lots, but there’s a catch – an important one. The current county density requirement in this area is one home (and guest home if the subdivision allows) per 2.5 acre parcel. The average density of the East development is obviously 2.5 acres. The West development also has an average density of 2.5 acres. Each 1 acre parcel is surrounded by community-owned open space that cannot be developed. Currently on market is a $190,000 1 acre parcel and a 2.5 acre parcel nearby priced at $109,000 per acre. Does that mean that the one acre parcel surrounded by open space is only worth $109,000? Obviously not.

Okay, so the above example is easy to justify. Let’s move across the valley into the Teton View corridor. To keep things fair, we need to keep the area similar. Properties East of State Highway 33 should be valued differently than those West of side of the highway. Let’s compare parcels in developments with no open space, one parcel being 2 acres and another being 5 acres. Am I saying each of these have the same value? No, but they certainly could. What I am saying is that if I were asked to value each of these parcels I wouldn’t even look at the cost per acre (yes, I would look at the overall size) of nearby listings or sales. The important thing to remember here again is that each parcel allows ONE primary home. I could compare 2.5 acre parcels with 5 acre parcels in the primary view corridor all day long and would probably find more 2.5 acre parcels that I would recommend to customers regardless of overall price or price per acre. I’m going to look at budget, proximity from the highway, property features, overall development value and restrictions and of course, the viability of an unobstructed view down the road. In other words, is it conceivable that I would value a 2.5 acre parcel and a 5 acre parcel the same? Absolutely. Does it mean I don’t take the size of a parcel into consideration? No, it does not.

The important thing to understand when determining or justifying the value of any given tract of vacant land is to remember to look at the entire picture. A 2.5 acre parcel overlooking 200 acres of an adjacent development’s open space has tremendous value. Trees, creeks, undulation in terrain, community features and amenities AND size – all of these elements should dictate the value of a parcel. It is not fair or reasonable to value any given property using just one of these metrics.

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