Question by jawon: Is the “assessed value” of real estate in Riverside County (CA) supposed to represent “market value”?
I’ve lived in other areas of the country where the “assessed value” is NOT intended to approximate the “market value”. It seems to differ by state/county, based on the history of strange property tax processes and calculations.
I’m interested in buying land in Riverside County and was able to find the assessed value online but not any info on how it is determined or what it represents. I’m hoping it is supposed to approximate the market value, in which case that gives me a starting point of what it’s worth.
Thx for the responses. Clarification… I’m not interested in whether a certain property’s assessed value = the true market value. The question is, is the assessment methodology for Riverside County to make the assessed value = market value as best as possible? Or do they have one of those funky methodologies where they try to make the assessed value = 33% of the market value, or something like that?
OK, I’m not holding my breath on someone to answer this one. Maybe I’ll just call the county 
Thx all.
Best answer:
Answer by the_unluckiest
In most places, market value and assessed value are not the same. In some places (ie: Vancouver, Canada), assessed value is the BARE MINIMUM for what that place is worth and homes go for thousands to hundreds of thousands over the assessed value. In other places like Canton, OH, homes are selling for around or under assessed value. So the real answer is: it depends on the housing market.
If you really want to know how much to offer on a home, you will need a real estate agent or realtor to pull up MLS and show you some comparables so you know if you’re offering market value. It’s important to do this because they have information you don’t have access to (ie: sold prices, unless you want to find out one by one) and they can give you a realistic amount on what you should be offering. Don’t use assessed value because it’s not meant to reflect full market value. An example recently is there’s a house on the market for $ 3.5 Million and the assessed value is $ 2.1 Million and the home sold for $ 3.3 Million.
What do you think? Answer below!
