How to determine my homes value.

[shakeshak]

HI..I am new here and have been searching the forum and cant find an answer, so I am hoping someone can help me.
I live in Georgia and Im considering filling chapter 7. I have a single wide mobile home on 1/4 acre lot that I want to keep. I refinanced over one year ago and owe about 25000 on it. The county I live in estimates its value at about 21000 which is good as far as equity goes, but would I be correct to assume that the court wouldnt accept the countys estimate and force me to seek an outside apraisal?

[JRScott]

It is best to get an outside appraisal. Many counties lag behind on the figures they use on their tax bills. It is just better to get a certified appraisal. Also might want to look to see if you need any repairs and get estimates for those.

[justplaintired]

I also think you can use or atleast I have read on here you can use a fair market appraisal for a realtor from your area. I went online and found one from my area. She charged nothing and went to the courthouse and then did an analyzes for us for no charge. It was actually very close to our appraisal which dated back to 2003, slight increase which surprised me of $4K. With the market as it is, I wasn't too surprised it wasn't more. Anyway, just something you can check on. I was also told our tax assessment might not work as those are not really an accurate amount.

[gophermn]

True - its like looking at the window sticker of a BMW vs Chevette. The appraisal will say one thing and the property tax papers say another.

At your 341 the Trustee WILL ask how you came up with the numbers for your house so you best be prepared to respond back with some type of formal reasoning. If you don't want to pay for an appraisal, see if you know of a Realtor friend who can run the numbers for you. Several realtor's can get a good idea what the property value would be.