*The Dave Ramsey 'Baby Steps' Thread*

[WinterSolider]

Just wondering how you calculate your House's Value? Assessed Tax Value or go with Zillow/Realtor Value?

Assessed tax value has absolutely nothing to do with reality. My $1 million house has an assessed tax value of $400,000. Counties and municipalities have their own complicated formulas that include things like homestead exemptions that are specific to that jurisdiction.

The most realistic value would be the average estimate from at least three different real estate sites, minus the 6% commission you'd have to pay to a realtor to sell it.

 

[barkley]

I work for county govt too. Part B required, govt insurance is the supplement. While I'd have to pay for it, not grandfathered for free (25 years awhile ago) it's a lot better than most supplement.

dh is retired fed. he has the option to take part b. if he does, than his Fhlbp has no deductibles or co pays. if he doesn't take part b he would. so have to figure cost of part b (which is high because I'm still working) vs savings

when I retire have to figure if better to pay for my govt insurance and part b vs going on dh as spouse. his is cheaper but out of network coverage not as good. and my 1 prescription would cost $350 per month vs 0. and whether to take part b if I go on his.
it's crazy

you know how every year during employee open enrollment you get sent paperwork that says 'save this for your records' and it details your coverage for if/when you apply for Medicare? SAVE THOSE SUCKERS!!! because after I retired I had to stay on my employer's plan to keep the kids insured, when I decided to just go pure Medicare I had to prove my previous prescription coverage met some kind of criteria or be penalized for every month from the month I became Medicare eligible (and it was a good number of years). I was so thankful I had hoarded all those yearly papers away b/c you would think if you had the same insurance carrier/same plan for over a decade that it would just take someone in hr or at the insurance company printing up a verification but nooooooooooooooo-because they would change their plan name by a smidge or rearrange the name from Healthnet plan A to Healthnet A plan (and back again the next year) they claimed there was no way to trace the information down.

HOARD YOUR PROOF OF COVERAGE

 

[MattB2G]

Assessed tax value has absolutely nothing to do with reality. My $1 million house has an assessed tax value of $400,000. Counties and municipalities have their own complicated formulas that include things like homestead exemptions that are specific to that jurisdiction.

The most realistic value would be the average estimate from at least three different real estate sites, minus the 6% commission you'd have to pay to a realtor to sell it.

Yeah, since my bank will give me a loan of 80% of the assessed tax value without an inspection, I will just go with that.

I would not trust Zillow's valuations, they are starting to get unreliable in my area because things are really slowing down.