In the case of the debacle in the county near me, they were supposed to look at sales through MLS but lost access some how.

One of the people in charge also essentially admitted that they had so many properties to assess that they ran out of time to do a proper job.

There’s a few companies that make a mint selling mass appraisal software to assessors all over the the country.

Depending on state tax law most assessors use a database of comparable property sales for assessment, in arrears like property tax levies, to value property. Usually the system searches comp sales automatically with bedroom bathroom counts and makes automated adjustments for quality and characteristics.

States vary on the protest process but it’s not cost effective to adjust individual properties outside of that process. Appraisal methods for protest vary depending on the nature of the property.

Commercials is taxed higher so more protests are for commercial than residential.

Spindrift, milk, and juice for the "drinking before noon at a toddler birthday is not ok or I am a toddler" crowd. Mix of local ipas and berlinerweisses for the others. Cupcakes and frosting recipe from some hipster shops via YouTube. Toddlers ate all my prosciutto! Wife remembered to tell me that my guac is better than whole foods guac, even though time constraints meant we had to buy guac for this party. Ain't got time for dicing veggies before 10am.

Anyway, good times.

And yes, micro, agree on all points. Also, Given the presence of billion dollar businesses that algorithmically buy houses it believes are poorly priced, it seems like at least for certain categories of property algorithm would do fine. But unfortunately, there's a lot of infrastructure that would need moving around to push back on appraisers. I guess a major bank could just say they are going to trust their computer for round one appraisals and farm appeals out to humans. One day.

The people at banks who choose the appraisers don't want accurate appraisals. Humans are better than algorithms at giving them what they really want.

One of the best part of owning a detached home over renting a townhome is I can turn the TV or music up as loud as I want.

I've actually just started doing this myself with the exception that it is not worth it for me to rebuild. I am strictly going with updating. I don't have much experience, but the loan I have gone with for my first one is more like a line of credit almost. I can't remember what it's called, but I find the property I want and negotiate my price with the seller. Then the bank sends out an appraiser who appraises the property with an "after repair value" based on what I tell them I will be doing for updates. The bank pays the seller for the property and then I get a line of credit for construction expenses. Say I pay 100k for the property and it's ARV is 200k, the bank will give me 60k in credit as it's only up to 80% of the value. For the first 12 months of the loan, I only pay interest payments on the amount I have used. The payments slowly get bigger as I dip more into that line of credit, but it gives me 12 months to do the work and get it sold before I really have to start paying. Interest isn't cheap at that amount, but I certainly don't need 12 months to flip a spot anyway. Hoping to only make 3 payments before it's all taken care of. I currently work a full time job, so this being my side gig for the moment it will take me 3 months probably to do a full flip. Hoping to make that 1 month or less when it is my only job.

As for tearing down and rebuilding from scratch, that seems like a lot more work for less return. If it takes you a year to finish a single project that nets you 200k, you might be able to do 10 projects in the same amount of time that will net you 30k each for a 300k total in the same amount of time. Depends on how much credit you have available and cash on hand if you can have that many fires burning while you are waiting for them to sell.

I have a 1982 1700ish sq ft 2 story house and I've slowly learned to hate this thick column separating my livingroom/kitchen area. Pretty sure I can't afford to get it moved just yet but curious if I decide to go through with it later on which type professional(s) would I approach for estimates? FWIW my handy brother took a glance and said it likely contains a bunch of electrical wiring that would have to be moved as well for a gaudy price

You need a structural engineer, carpenter, electrician, maybe plumbing, maybe HVAC, flooring, drywall/paint

It's almost certainly structural, or they wouldn't have put it there. Better to sell house than to move it, imo.

I've seen dumber things in houses for less reason.

Just get on Love It Or List It or Property Brothers Forever Home and they will take care of it.

I have something of the same issue, but the feature I don't like is our fireplace. It is in the kitchen.

While it probably is structural (there are 2 headers, maybe 3, going into it), I’d guess the sheer size of it is because of duct work.

Selling the house is quitters talk! Anything can be removed.

Is this house 1 level or multiple?

Do you know which way your joists are running? Do they run perpendicular or parallel to this column? Are any of the walls running into/through this column contiguous throughout the house?

They would be columns if they were parallel to the column

Call me crazy, but I think two story homes are more than one level.

Ah I must have glossed over that detail in the post

timmay,

What's below it?


ETA:

If you want to find what's in the column and how hard it would be to remove it without spending any money you can do so in about 15 minutes with a couple of basic tools without causing any visible damage.

You'll need a wonder bar, hammer, utility knife, and painter's stir stick.


1. Carefully cut the caulking joint between the baseboard and the drywall on one of the long sides of the column.
2. Use the wonder bar to carefully pry the baseboard off the wall. Use the stir stick between the wonder bar and the drywall to prevent damage. Work from one end and go slow.
3. Once the baseboard is removed cut thru the drywall about 1/2" below the height of the baseboard, parallel to the floor, for the entire length of the column with your utility knife.
4. Carefully pry that piece of drywall out.
5. Shine a flash light around inside the column, take pictures.
6. Put the piece of drywall back, then tack the baseboard back in place covering up where you cut the hole in the wall.

^^ good idea, may try that route later on


couple more pics that might help:


living room vantage point -






basement (I believe the pole on right side is directly underneath column)

Anyone have experience switching a house from electric to gas?

Currently looking at a house that is all electric.
(Still need to call utility company to make sure there is a gas line)

If there's a gas line, there will be a gas meter somewhere.

I don't know about "switching a house from electric to gas", but I replaced an electric stove with a gas stove once.

you'll need to run new gas lines for some of the following:

furnace
hot water heater
stove
dryer

you'll need to buy new for them because you can't convert an electric stove to gas. you'll also need to change the power that is behind them/in your breaker box. all your electric stuff is probably run off of 30 amp breakers which is not needed for gas, could probably use a 15 amp breaker. stove and dryer are usually 220v, where gas versions are 110v because all you need to power is the head unit.

additionally, you'll want to think of the locations for these things. in houses that are designed for gas, smart architects/builders usually put everything near each other to avoid running gas pipe everywhere. if everything is scattered, it will cost more in materials and labor.

so if you're not doing any of the work yourself, you'd probably need:
- plumber
- electrician
- drywaller
- painter

and you'll need permits to install all the gas pipe and for the electrical work

all of these costs may pale in comparison to the cost of getting a gas line run to the house, if there isn't one already and the gas company doesn't front the cost (depends on the gas company and their current service coverage)

So I'm in the middle of a new build process, and have found that there are a couple of things to consider. Not a total expert by any means, so make sure you call around. Happy to connect you with some NoVA folks if useful that I found helpful (depending on where exactly you are at).

The variety of lending options is significant, but varies from lender-to-lender. Some will only do a construction loan and then you have to figure out how to handle the long-term. This is a pain in the ass because you have to close twice. Some will do a construction-to-permanent loan with a single close, however, the product option on the permanent loan is not particularly flexible (at least in my experience) and many only do 7-year ARMs or 10-year balloons. You can find a bank that does both and can roll you into a 30-year fixed, but it took me a while to find (BB&T).

The lenders will each have different builder evaluation processes that range from a check-the-box type effort to a colonoscopy of the builder's financial situation. And some lenders will want the builder to be on their certified/approved list. This just adds a level of complexity and timing delays, but comes with a little more certainty the builder isn't going to collapse in the middle of your project.

All of these will give you 12 months to do the construction and charge a relatively similar interest rate (although not exact) on any draws that are made to pay the builder out.

It's hard to see unless you click on the full image and zoom in, but looking at the top right corner, between the last two joists in the picture, I think a large duct goes up through the floor. Right behind that white cable that looks like double coax.

I can't tell if there's also a post going up, but I would guess there is. I can't imagine this would be worth the cost/effort to change, because on top of all the other stuff listed, you'd also have to make the flooring look right after you moved the post and patched the hole in the floor, which is pretty tough.

^^ ya seems like it. I like the rest of the house/location too much to sell it so I'll just hafta deal w/it most likely unless I luckbox a donkament or something. thx guys

What is on the 2nd floor above the column? Is there any ductwork coming up right there? I'm guessing the ducts that feed your upstairs run through it. It is also a structural support. The structural support part of it can be removed easy enough (for a contractor), but the ductwork being rerouted could be a much bigger issue if it goes to the upstairs.