Cindy Golden's Blog

The Pasadena TX housing market remains strong, although homeowners are still struggling to maintain property valuations in appraisals. Realtors are finding it necessary to communicate real value to appraisers and be ready with comparable sales figures to justify the contracted price.

Only a few years ago, it seemed that all properties got rubber stamped through the appraisal process, now it seems the pendulum has swung too far to the other side. The wild gyrations in the real estate market have tightened appraisals all over, even though we didn't experience the "bubble" that hit several areas of the national and international housing market.

It is critical that the Realtor take the time to speak with the appraiser both prior to and after the appraisal to ensure that all factors have been considered.  It is our job to protect our sellers from the artificially falling values just as we attempted to protect our buyers from the escalating markets of just a few years ago.

It's a great time to buy with property values being monitored closely by the lending institutions.  Even though sellers are working hard to keep their property values up, the buyer can rest assured that he is getting value.