You are trying to estimate the value of a property that you are interested in buying. The subject property is located at 322 Rock Creek Road in a new suburb of a large metropolitan area. The property is like many others in the area, with three bedrooms, two baths, a living room, a den, a large kitchen, and a two-car garage. The residence has about 1,800 square feet of air-conditioned space and is of traditional design. The property is located on an interior lot with no potential flooding problems. The quality of construction appears to be about average for the market area. The property being purchased was built within the past two years. Three properties have been chosen as comparables and they also were constructed within the past two years.

Comparable properties in the area have the following characteristics:

  Comparable I Comparable II Comparable III

Address 123 Clay Street 301 Cherry Lane 119 Avenue X

Sale price $ 96,200 $ 89,500 $ 85,000

Time of sale 6 months ago 7 months ago 13 months ago

Design Modern Traditional Traditional

Parking 2-car garage 2-car carport 1-car garage

Location Corner lot Interior lot Interior lot

Drainage Good Below average Good

Bedrooms Four Three Two

Baths Two Two Two

Construction Average Average Below average

You have come to some conclusions concerning what you believe the different attributes of the comparable properties are likely to be worth in the market area. Appreciation in house values in the area has been very low over the past eight months, and you think that any properties that have sold within that period would probably not require any adjustments for the time of sale. However, one of the comparable properties sold over a year ago, and you think it will require a $1,700 upward adjustment. You also believe that properties in the area that are located near the creek sell for about $1,400 less than other properties in the area because of a slower rate of runoff after heavy rains. Properties on corner lots generally sell for a premium of about $1,200. Houses with the fashionable modern design usually bring about $1,200 more than those that have traditional design characteristics. Because three-bedroom homes are considered desirable by buyers in the area, an additional fourth bedroom will generally only add about $1,450 in value to a property. However, properties that contain only two bedrooms are rather difficult to sell, and often bring $2,200 less than their three-bedroom counterparts when they are sold. Most homes in the area have a two-car garage, but when properties have a one-car garage, they usually sell for about $1,000 less. A two-car open carport generally reduces the value of the property by $1,050. The inferior construction quality exhibited by comparable III should reduce its value by about $1,700.

Required:

a. Complete the sales comparison approach to value and assign an estimate of value to the subject property.

a. Sale price for property 1, 2, 3

b. Time of sale for property 1, 2, 3

c. Location for property 1, 2, 3

d. Site for property 1, 2, 3

e. Design for property 1, 2, 3

f. Construction quality for property 1, 2, 3

g. Number of bedrooms for property 1, 2, 3

h. Garage for property 1, 2, 3

b. A second approach using the cost method of valuation will also be used to estimate value. Comparing vacant lot sales in the market area indicates that the value of the lot the subject property is constructed on is $18,000. Air-conditioned space in the dwelling would cost about $36.00 per square foot to reproduce, and the garage would cost approximately $4,200 to reproduce. Complete the cost approach to value, assuming that, because the property being valued is relatively new, no depreciation of the structure is required.

2. An investor is considering the acquisition of a “distressed property” which is on Northlake Bank’s REO list. The property is available for $201,200 and the investor estimates that he can borrow $160,000 at 4.5 percent interest on an interest-only loan and that the property will require the following total expenditures during the next year:

Inspection $ 518

Title search 1,036

Renovation 13,000

Landscaping 836

Loan interest 7,200

Insurance 1,818

Property taxes 6,018

Selling expenses 8,000

Required:

a. The investor is wondering what such a property must sell for after one year in order to earn a 20 percent return (IRR) on equity. Sale value of property is?

b. The investor is now concerned that if the property does not sell, he may have to carry the property for one additional year. The investor believes that he could rent it (starting in year 2) and realize a net cash flow before debt service of $1,560 per month. However, he would have to make an additional $7,200 in interest payments on his loan during that time, and then sell. What would the price have to be at the end of year 2 in order to earn a 20 percent IRR on equity? Sale value of property is?

3. You have an opportunity to acquire a property from First Capital Bank. The bank recently obtained the property from a borrower who defaulted on his loan. First Capital is offering the property for $284,000. If you buy the property, you believe that you will have to spend (1) $11,900 on various acquisition-related expenses and (2) an average of $3,400 per month during the next 12 months for repair costs, and so on, in order to prepare it for sale. Because First Capital Bank would like to sell the property as soon as possible, it is willing to provide $264,000 in financing at 4.25 percent interest for 12 months payable monthly (interest only). Your market research indicates that after you repair the property, it may sell for about $334,000 at the end of one year. Furthermore, you will probably have to pay about $4,400 in fees and selling expenses in order to sell the property at that time.

Required:

a. If you wanted to earn a 20 percent return compounded monthly, do you believe that this would be a good investment?

b. What would you need to sell the property for in order to achieve the 20 percent return?

5. A potential home buyer is wondering about her credit card accounts and the effect that they may have on her credit score which will be evaluated when she applies for a mortgage loan. At present, she has three accounts with credit limits and balances outstanding as follows:

She would like to transfer the balance in account number 2 to account number 3 in order to save the membership fee and because the interest charges for account number 2 are higher than the others. If she does this account number 2 would be closed.

Account Limit Outstanding Balance

(1) $ 5,000 $ 3,650

(2) 12,000 5,650

(3) 15,000 8,650

Required:

a. How much credit capacity is she currently using? As a percent

b. If she cancels account number 2 and transfers the balance to account number 3, what will be the capacity used now?

c. After the transfer, how much would an increase in the total credit limit have to be in account number 3 to restore the total capacity used in all accounts prior to the transfer?