In the Spring Texas real estate market, buyers and sellers alike are often confused about the differences between market value, appraised value, and tax appraised / assessed value.
So let’s first start by tackling market value. The market value of a home is how much a ready, willing, and able buyer is willing to pay for the home.
The appraised value of a home is the value determined by an appraiser. If you are a buyer financing the purchase of a home, your lender may require the property to be appraised by an appraiser. The appraiser works for the lender and his job is to determine if the value of the home is equal to or greater than the amount that you are financing.
The tax appraised / assessed value of Spring Texas homes are determined by either the Harris County Appraisal District or the Montgomery County Appraisal District dependent upon which county the home is located in. It is the county’s calculated market value of the property as of January 1st of the tax year. The majority of the time, the tax appraised value will be lower than the market value of the home.
If you are a buyer, the values you need to focus on are the market value and the appraised value. If the tax appraised value is higher than what you paid for the home, you need to protest it with the county appraisal district. If the tax appraised value is lower than what you paid for the home, keep that little secret to yourself and just enjoy the lower tax bill.
If you are a Spring Texas home seller wanting to estimate how much your home will sell for, then market value is what you want to focus on. Your Spring Texas Realtor can compare what similar homes to yours have sold for within the last six months and provide you with an estimated sales price.
If you are interested in learning about ways to reduce your real estate taxes, read the following:
- Reduce your Spring Texas property taxes
- Spring TX Real Estate: The truth about the homestead exemption
If you have questions about the different values or want to know the market value of your home, please contact Jill Wente at 281.804.8626.
