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See: Appraisal Fraud: Your Home at Risk by Sarah Max, CNN/Money
See: Real Estate Bubble & Real Estate Bubble 2 by Scott Wright, Zeal LLC
See: Greenspan is Concerned About 'Froth' in Housing by Edmund L. Andrews, NYTimes
See: Salsa Dancers and Stunt Men? Must Be a Miami Condo Project, by Abby Goodnough, NYTimes
See: Making a Quick Buck in Real Estate by Diana Olick, CNBC

Ole Bear, Editor, Commentary

Give me a Budweiser with a good Head...
and Dodging the Tax Assessor?

There are going to be a lot of irate Missourians in good ole Columbia and Boone County Missouri. It seems that our local tax assessor finally raised values on single family homes and duplexes. Whoops! and Ouch! In fact my phone started ringing today at 7:34 AM from old customers who wanted copies of their old appraisals so that they could go fight the tax assessor. However, a 2 or 3 year old appraisal isn't going to help these old clients very much, because the tax assessor is going to want a new appraisal to support why their assessment should not go up. That is one of the problems about inflated real estate prices. Your local tax assessor is able to get more money for local government folks to spend. It is called tax and spend. No one drinks 3-year old Budweiser, and a 3-year old realty appraisal is yesterday's home brew. An appraisal is good for one day -- the date of value.

We have linked to some excellent articles today topical to the continuing saga of real estate. Froth in housing? Come on Greenspan, you said a couple of years ago that real estate could not be a market bubble, since all real estate markets are local. Make up your mind!

This is one of those days when less is more, so that our readers can enjoy the links. Have a great day, Y'all!

Yours Truly,

Ole Bear, Editor
Columbia, Missouri

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