Frank

I'm not sure from what angle you would be making an investment, but they are looking to buy homes from a bank that have been foreclosed on. So, it probably was not intended for you - or it's just some spam trying to trick you into something else.

Unless you are a bank and have $20,000,000 worth of REO properties (Real Estate Owned by the bank) that you're trying to sell. - Sat Jul 12 2008, 10:19

I know I'm going to repeat what others have said, but I like to see concrete examples, and I happen to have had several recent real estate transactions in NC.

If I had to sell today, I'd slap some incentives up to help sell the house. Throw in a flat screen TV and a 1-year gym membership if it sells for what you ask, or appeal to their savvy financial side by offering to pay or 1 year of a home warranty (~$400, will send a repair man out to fix any appliance or A/C unit in the house- http://www.ahswarranty.com/) or a 1-year Home Equity Protection contract (~1% of the sales price, will pay the buyer if the house declines in value - http://protectyourhomeequity.com). Your house really needs to stand out AND be priced right to sell.

Tax value is the least reliable proxy for true market value. You should not use it as any basis.
Here are some comparison numbers to show you how bad the tax value is: I've bought and sold two houses in Charlotte in the last two years, and one in York County, SC (just south of Charlotte).

House 1: Tax Value 220,900. 3/2007 Sale Price 250,000. Tax Value was 12% too low!
House 2: Tax Value 67,400. 2/2007 Purchase Price 47,000. Tax Value was 43% too high!
House 3: Tax Value 277,500. 6/2007 Purchase Price 585,000. Tax Value was 47% too low! (this is in York County, and they openly discuss their goal of assessing values well below actual market values on their website).

Zillow.com has some very interesting data. I wouldn't recommend using their Zestimate to price your home, but type in your address, find some houses that are similar to yours and close by that have sold, and figure out the per square foot price -- this is far from perfect, but it's a better starting point than the tax assessor. Obviously, the realtor does this for a living and they're going to have the best advice for you. - Sat Jul 12 2008, 10:16

For about 1% of the sales price, you can lock in the value of the homes for a year or more with a home equity protection contract. It is a lot easier to sell a house to someone in today's market when you can remove any concerns with declining home prices.

See some of these sites:
http://protectyourhomeequity.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Equity_Protection
http://icf.som.yale.edu/home_equity.shtml - Mon Jul 7 2008, 19:11

For relatively cheap, you can lock in the home value so you don't have to worry about declining prices - there are several national firms now that offer home equity protection - you essentially get a check for the difference if the home declines in value.

http://protectyourhomeequity.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Equity_Protection
http://icf.som.yale.edu/home_equity.shtml - Mon Jul 7 2008, 19:09

You don't have to worry about the bottom of the real estate market because there are several national firms now that offer home equity protection - you essentially get a check for the difference if the home declines in value. In both Flourtown and Ambler, the cost is - Mon Jul 7 2008, 19:07