Search and Seizure of the wallet in Norfolk!

Be sure to get the name of the Norfolk assessor who comes to your home and post them on line!

Workers coming inside to assess a home's worth? That's troubling. | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com
The Virginian-Pilot
© May 19, 2009

Knock, knock.

Don't look now, but that could be the Norfolk real estate assessor at your door.

Not
content with merely taking a gander at the exterior of your abode, and
factoring in building permits and sales of comparable houses, Deborah
Bunn and her lieutenants want to snoop around inside to determine your
castle's worth.

Wait. What's that? You just lost your job and spent the week building cabinets and painting your living room?

Well aren't you the lucky one. You may have just hiked your own taxes.

I learned about this astonishing effort by Norfolk to raise assessments
(they wouldn't be going to all this trouble to lower them, would they?)
from http://blog.vivianpaige.com, a local blog managed by the Norfolk
CPA of the same name.

One of Paige's readers wrote that she was
"seriously troubled" that government workers would want to come onto
her property. My first instinct was that Paige - or her irate
correspondent - had to be mistaken.

But they were right.

A news release, posted last month on the city's Web site, explained that
the city workers, driving city vehicles, would fan out around the city:

"Beginning April 20, the Norfolk Real Estate Assessor's office will begin a five
year field review program that will include a physical inspection of
every residential and commercial property in the City of Norfolk.

"Field reviews will be conducted Monday thru Friday from 9:00 am - 5 pm. The
neighborhood inspections will take place from April through July for
the next five years. Prior to initiating the inspection of a particular
property, the appraiser will make the appropriate introduction at the
door. If the owner/occupant is not home, an exterior review will be
conducted and a notice will be left informing the owner of the
visit...."

Hmmm. This could be an interesting social experiment.

When we find out how many residents rolled out the welcome mat, we'll also
know how many Norfolkians were asleep during high school civics class.

Reminder for the snoozers: This is America. Except in very few cases, you do not
have to allow government agents - without search warrants - in your
home.

Still, as one blog commenter noted, many folks will be too cowed by a city badge and a clipboard to assert their rights.

Troubling, indeed.

When I spoke to her Monday, Bunn said 15 workers from her office had begun
canvassing the 56,396 private dwellings in the city. The assessor
acknowledged that residents "have the right to say no" to the
inspectors.

If they're turned away, the workers will take a picture of the house and walk around the exterior.

"We won't push the matter," she assured me.

But Bunn noted that the city attorney's office had told her she had the
authority to go onto private property and even wander around a fenced
yard, provided the gate is unlatched.

Memo to Norfolk homeowners: Buy locks. Now.

Curiously, Norfolk City Attorney Bernard Pishko said Monday that he hadn't heard
about the assessor's grand plan and had no comment about city workers
trying to gain entry to private homes.

When asked about the power of the city to traipse around private property, including
fenced-in yards, Pishko said that wouldn't be trespassing. Property
needs to be posted.

Oooh. I smell a cottage industry in tasteful "Keep Out" signs.

I asked the assessor if it was fair that those accommodating types with
tidy houses and fresh paint might see their assessments raised, while
their more slovenly neighbors might not.

Not going to happen, Bunn said. Her employees are looking for structural improvements.

Such as?

Mahogany trim or granite countertops.

Oh, I see. In Norfolk, it's not enough that you paid income taxes on the
money you used to buy the granite. Or that you paid a sales tax on the
stone itself. And the installation.

The city is now itching to slap you with a countertop tax.

If that sounds reasonable, by all means, invite the assessor in.

Me, I'd ask to see a search warrant.

Absent that, I'd tell the city to get off my property and enjoy the view from the street.

Kerry Dougherty, (757) 446-2306, kerry.dougherty@cox.net

33,000 LOCAL HOMEOWNERS ‘UPSIDE DOWN,’ REPORT SHOWS

I guess I don't understand how this happens. If you can't afford something, don't buy it! If it sounds "too good to be true," it probably is! Besides, if you can't afford to buy, rent! I'm not sure when people decided that they have a RIGHT to own a home. Hell, Nutz and I both rented until we could afford to buy our house. I remember some of our conversations during our house-hunting phase. Neither one of us wanted to spend more than $200k (and we didn't) because we refused to live paycheck to paycheck (which I've done before...damn teacher salary). It's our first house and it's probably not our retirement home, but that's okay. How many young people (single or married) do you know who get their "dream house" the first go-round? My point, I have a hard time "bailing out" or even feeling sorry for people who "lived beyond their means." Yes, we'd like to drive new cars, but we don't. We'd like to take a nice vacation (or 2 or 3 or 4) each year, but we don't. We both work and don't necessarily love our jobs but realize that we must provide for our family. So, the next time you decide to spend $50k on a new car, $300 on a Wii for your kid, or $250k on a house, ask yourself if you can REALLY afford it. If not, don't buy it! I'm tired of working my butt off only to take care of people who've made bad choices (multiple times and never learn) or people too lazy to get a job. It might not be the job you've always wanted but maybe it'll help pay the bills and provide your family with health insurance. Sometimes you just have to "suck it up" and take one for the team. Besides, it's not the government's job to take care of you, isn't that what families are for? You can bet that either one of our families would help us out if we needed it and we'd do the same. So, instead of looking to the government for assistance, perhaps you should pick up the phone and call your family. Many years ago, several generations lived under one roof to make ends meet. I've lived with my parents and both sets of grandparents during transitional times in my life. If you can't depend on your family, who can you depend on?

Rant over...Crackerz

It’s also called ‘underwater,’ or owing more on a mortgage than one’s home is worth
By Josh Brown
The Virginian-Pilot
Josh Brown, (757) 446-2318, josh.brown@pilotonline.com More than 33,000 homeowners in Hampton Roads owed more on their mortgages than their homes were worth at the end of 2008 as home prices continued to fall, according to a report released Wednesday by a mortgage research firm.
That’s roughly 13 percent of all mortgages in the local market, according to First American CoreLogic, which is based in Santa Ana, Calif., and tracks mortgages across the country.
The firm’s quarterly report, which broke out Hampton Roads data for the first time, also said that an additional 10,000 mortgages will be “underwater” if home prices in the area decline 5 percent from their current level. Homeowners who purchased at the peak of the local housing boom, especially with little or no down payment or an interest-only loan, are the most susceptible to finding themselves “underwater,” or “upside down” – owing more than a home is worth .
Falling home values can erode any equity homeowners have in a newly purchased or refinanced home. Home prices in Hampton Roads have slid 13.7 percent in the past year, according to Real Estate Information Network Inc., the local multiple listing service. The median sale price for existing homes in January was $194,000, down from $224,900 a year ago.
“The accelerating share of negative equity, combined with deteriorating economic conditions, means that mortgage risk will continue to increase until home prices and the economy begin to stabilize,” Mark Fleming, chief economist for First American CoreLogic, said in a news release.
Economists and real estate experts say owing more on a home than it’s worth is one of the most common precursors to foreclosure.
“Certainly these are the types of people who, given any change in their economic status, are likely to throw in the towel,” said James Koch, an economist at Old Dominion University.
Across the country, more than 8.3 million homeowners owe more than their homes are worth, representing about 20 percent of all outstanding mortgages, First American CoreLogic reported. The majority of such “negative equity” mortgages are in states such as California, Florida, Texas and Michigan. In Virginia, 19.6 percent of all mortgages were underwater.
The company said in its report that most of the increases in those mortgages in the months ahead probably will come in markets that have not already seen deep declines in home prices.
The “worrisome issue” going forward, Fleming said, is not just the severity of negative equity in the states hardest hit thus far “but the geographic broadening of negative equity that is expected to occur throughout the year.”
Brian Holland, president of Virginia Beach-based Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group, said many of the region’s upsidedown loans could be attributed to mortgages guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs with no down payments.
“Your typical VA buyer is going to fund 100 percent,” said Holland, whose firm handles such loans from 19 mortgage offices in Virginia and the Carolinas. “After fees associated with the sale, they’re automatically underwater.”
The report comes on the same day President Barack Obama released guidelines on his administration’s foreclosure prevention and homeowner refinancing program. The program is expected to aid as many as 9 million troubled U.S. homeowners, including some with negative equity whose loans are financed or backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.
The number of homes for sale with asking prices far below what is owed on the house has been increasing steadily in the past few months, said Barbara Wolcott, president and chief executive of Prudential Towne Realty.
“The ones who are really impacted by this are the ones who have to sell,” she said. “Then you’re forced in to a short-sell situation.”
A “short sale” means selling a house for less than the amount the seller owes the lender. Lenders agree to take a loss on the short sale to avoid the added costs of a foreclosure plus trying to maintain and resell the property.
The process often takes several weeks to finalize, Wolcott said. As more local homeowners take that route to sell their home, short sales will take even longer, she said.