After reading John Cooks blog, ‘Beware of what you post on Zillow?‘ I started to think, how much is to much??? Much like my last post about the ‘Trojan Horse‘ are we all becoming so connected that it makes sense for the County Assessor to start using these tools as a way to fuel the County. In my case, King County Assessor Scott Noble was even quoted as saying, “the new Zillow service could be used as a tool to make sure that homeowners are paying their “fair share.” If the KC Assessor’s office would have used Zilllow’s Zestimate for the tax assessed value of a home LTD Real Estate just sold they would have almost doubled the tax bill. That would mean from this home alone, $2,601.51 more towards the bottom line. Hopefully Ron Sims doesn’t read this blog post…
I think I am going to keep my home information my own information.
Jon, I clicked on the link to find “the home LTD just sold” and didn’t get THE home sold, but an advertisement for LTD. Very nice one…but was that a “Trojan Horse” link?
Ardell-
The link is to ‘LTD Real Estate’ (only) because that is the company that listed the house. If clicking on something that says LTD Real Estate takes you to anything but something to do with LTD Real Estate then that would actually be the trojan horse. The link to the actually house is not there because of privacy. Would you like your home address and tax payment and value to be public information?
Jon
That is a concern of mine. Currently I have the following situation…
Home Value (based on NWMLS) > Zillow Zestimate > King County Assessed Value
Generally speaking, I think the KC assessor is pretty conservative in determining property values (and I’d prefer it if they stay that way).
It definitely makes sense for the assessor to remain conservative. Nothing would be worse than paying more than what you can sell your house for, especially a lot more. Outside of periods like the last 5 years, the assessment values generally only lag the market a little.
Jon,
I have a house like that, and so was curious and clicked on the link. The Trojan Horse comment was just a pun on your title, I opened something and found something other than what I expected…much like a “Trojan Horse”. I liked your ad, as I said, I was just expecting to see a house. I think you read more into that small comment than I simply wanted to see the house…but since I have mls access, it’s easy enough for me to find it.
BTW anyone can find my house, my tax record, my taxes, etc…as it IS public information.
What might be seen as conservative could be due to the tax assessment lag time. The state constitution requires property to be assessed at 100% of its fair value. A new assessment may not take place for two years. An addition to the structure may not be included in the assessment for up to three years.
Cheers,
Michael P. Lindekugel
Financial Analyst
RE/MAX Commercial
Team Reba – RE/MAX Metro Realty, Inc