short sale

I remember hearing, during the boom days of real estate, statements like, “There is no way that house is worth that much!” after a house sells for an outrageously high price. And I remembered the statement about fair market value I learned years ago:

Fair market value is what a willing buyer would pay to a willing seller in a free market.

How much is something worth? It depends! What would someone pay for it?

The Internet is loaded with stories now about local and state governments grappling with how to handle row upon row of abandoned houses. They’re passing on property tax increases to those still in their houses and having to figure out how to police abandoned houses to stop the spread of crime to these neighborhoods.

Meanwhile, in Florida, thousands of prospective homeowners can’t buy their houses because of confusion about a Florida tax. The issue is that in Florida there is a transfer tax that is charged when a property is bought. The transfer tax is based on the home’s value.