August 23, 2010
How does county property assessment tie into the sale price of a home?
Lita C asked:
Looking in Prince William County Virginia. Does the property assessment from the county have anythinig to do with the appraisal from the bank when buying a home? I ask because I came across the county’s site that shows the value of the homes as of this past January and the assessment is significantly lower than the sale/listed price of the homes, one of them was more than double. Should I not be worried about the county’s assessment of the property?
Looking in Prince William County Virginia. Does the property assessment from the county have anythinig to do with the appraisal from the bank when buying a home? I ask because I came across the county’s site that shows the value of the homes as of this past January and the assessment is significantly lower than the sale/listed price of the homes, one of them was more than double. Should I not be worried about the county’s assessment of the property?
Filed under Renting & Real Estate by on Aug 23rd, 2010. Comment. 
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Comments on How does county property assessment tie into the sale price of a home?
It is completely unrelated and not used at all by the appraiser.
I agree with Landlord, dont worry about it. It is actually a good thing to have a lower county appraisal it is what the county uses to set property tax costs but has no true way of assessing the property for sale values. Sales values are a supply and demand thing.
Assessed value does not determine market value. However, you should be aware that in many locations the property is reassessed upon sale, so the assessed value (and thus, taxes) could increase from what they are now.
One has nothing to do with the other. Assessed values could be percentages of the actual value of the property. It could be they havent been reassessed in years so they have a higher tax rate, etc.
The appraisal is based on actual comparable sales. The appraiser will not even look at the assessed value, because it does not matter.