Every year, so it seems, over at least the last 7 years a news channel commentator shares a headline that "property values will plummet" in the following year, or some other scary story like that. Of course history shows that in Wisconsin we have seen at least 5% growth per year, and experts predict much of the same over the next 5 years too!

The media likes to stir up drama, so I prefer to stick to the facts. It helps me personally and it has helped my clients over the years too.

What then do the facts say about Wisconsin property values? Let's ask our local appraisers. Their fulltime job, after all, is to evaluate properties.

​

The company I work with, Fairway Mortgage, owns our appraisal management company, and so we have access to a lot of data! 

I wanted to see if APPRAISERS think property is overpriced! Do appraisers constantly value property for less than the contract offer amount? Are appraisers secretly believing a crash is coming? 

Ultimately, it is the appraiser's job to show the house is worth at least how much the client is paying/financing. We don't necessarily need to know if it is worth more, although it is nice when that happens.

I think many will be surprised to hear that over the last 12 months only 6.8% of appraisals have come in low. An even more surprising number is that 70.3% of appraisals came in above the contract price. Some of this is rounding up (Sales contract purchase price was $299,000 and the appraisal came in at $300,000. Is that really "above" the purchase price?).

Here's another fun fact. You are able to DISPUTE a low appraisal value if you have data to support a higher evaluation. In reviewing the dispute data from last year, we were successful 42% of the time in increasing the initial appraised value. Appraisers are open to feedback, and are open-minded to the fact that our SE Wisconsin real estate has value! 

However, notwithstanding a staggering number of appraisals are above the contract, and a relatively small amount is below. Remember, appraisers only need to "prove" the house is worth our contract value, not necessarily above it!

I have been watching this data for a few years now, and its consistently true, trained professionals think about 70% of buyers in this market are "getting a deal". If you close a home for $300,000 and it's actually worth $310,000 you have "instant equity" after closing! How cool is that?

Any questions on this? Text or call me at ​414-488-0438!