NOW how much would you pay?

"GREAT NEWS!" That was my first thought when I saw the notice from the county. They had assessed the value of my home and the number they came up with was $50,000 MORE than I paid! "YAY!" I thought! "It's only been 6 months since I moved in and already my home has appreciated 50k!"

Yes I am THAT naive. Luckily I have friends who aren't Pakleds. Both P and my friend and mortgage broker Allison set me straight.

For those of you who are also not wise in the ways of real estate, a high assessment from the county is 1: NOT good news and 2: probably very inflated. Ya see, that is the number they use to determine how much TAX you pay. Of course, they want it to be as HIGH as possible. So while I might brim with pride when I look at that gigantic number, there is NO WAY I could sell This New Condo for the value they've appraised it at.

I was a little deflated. Here I thought I'd gone from Zero to 50 when in reality I'd gone from zero to less than zero.

So now I have until the middle of next month to do some research. Find out what one bedrooms around me are selling for... prove how much I paid just 6 months ago... probably do a little begging... This never happened when I was renting.