Finally, THAT'S done...but results?

[Spiky Bugger]

We moved in September. Bought a house a mile from my sister's house, in the same city. My sister and I are both refinancing for lower interest rates. Her appraiser did theirs on Thursday. Ours was yesterday. Results?

Approximately the same square footage.
Our house is the same age. (Corrected previous error.)
Our house is (real) hardwood floors (some areas ceramic or vinyl) on a raised foundation with a crawlspace. Theirs is carpet (and vinyl) on a concrete slab.
Our lot is 150% the size of theirs.
We have 2+ bathrooms, they have 1.5.
We have a double garage, they have a single.
We have "a storage room" (previous owners used it as a bedroom) that is 240 sq ft, with built in closets and air conditioning. They have a storage room that is about 100 sq ft and is used for storage.
We have a pool only, they have a pool and spa.

You'd think that the values would be similar, or ours would be a little higher? You would not think that if you lived in the area! Our house is in a VERY, VERY good school district...but theirs is in an EXCELLENT school district.

The difference? Their house appraised at $80k more than ours. (Actually, ours appraised at EXACTLY what I estimated the value to be. But I thought the comparisons were interesting.)

In this area, school district is king.

 

[newanatomy]

It's always location, location, location.

 

[bearmom]

Location is the number one thing, buuut...

Your's has so many things that are a notch above, I'd think all of that would put your value, at least a little, above theirs.

I'm assuming you didn't have the same appraiser. I've seen ridiculous differences between appraisers.

 

[Spiky Bugger]

It's always location, location, location.

Yup.

 

[Spiky Bugger]

Location is the number one thing, buuut...

Your's has so many things that are a notch above, I'd think all of that would put your value, at least a little, above theirs.

I'm assuming you didn't have the same appraiser. I've seen ridiculous differences between appraisers.

True dat...in most areas...but in this case, it's the school districts...which technically are not included in the appraisals. But hers actually says that the property is located in a highly desired school district.