Colorado Springs Real Estate: Assessed Value vs. Market Value

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In the Colorado Springs real estate market, many people confuse assessed value with market value.

Assessed value is the value that the county places on the property in reference to how much that property will be taxed. Assessed value is not even taken into consideration when appraising a property, in most situations.

Market value is how much a ready, willing and able buyer will pay for a property.

I have never seen a case, in the real estate market in Colorado Springs where assessed value was equal to or higher than how much a home sold for. The assessed value is generally a bit lower, although the El Paso County Assessor has recently done a major re-assessment overhaul and the assessed values are a bit closer to market value.

However, having a lower assessed value is a GOOD thing. As a homeowner, we do not want to be paying taxes on a value that is MORE than the property could actually sell for.

I bring this up because we just were speaking with a person who was dealing with a will. The will asked for the property value to be divided up between the heirs, and they were basing the value on the tax assessment. When doing further research, we found that the property actually had a market value of almost $30,000 MORE than the assessed value. This difference would have thrown a huge wrench in the works when it came time to sell the home. We recommended that they paid for a professional appraiser to determine what the market value is, and base their decisions on that number, not the assessed value.

If you are trying to determine the value of your Colorado Springs home, you should hire a professional appraiser, or contact a local Colorado Springs Realtor® that you trust and get a comprehensive market analysis of your property.