property assessments

[moncton golden flames]

i have heard that a homes relative sale value is about 10% above the city assessment. how accurate is this and is there any speculation on how the new assessments will act come the new year? will they go up, stay the same or go down?

[Realtor 1]

Ive spoken with many agents whom refuse to even look at the city assessment.
You have to keep in mind that the city has not walked through your home and seen any damage or upgrades. The simply look at your lot size and square footage and make an educated guess based on the rest of the community.
It is fair to say that roughly 80% of properties that I pull a city assessment for come out to be in that 10% figure. With that being said, I just helped a client purchase a foreclosure where the city assessment is close to what he will pay. In reality this property can be flipped for over 30k in one week so the whole 10% idea is way off in some situations.

[bizaro86]

I think it really depends on the property, too much so to generalize. I've paid 50% less than a city assessment, but I've also paid more than a city assessment. Its probably not a good rule of thumb to use, better to have a realtor do a CMA if you're serious about wanting to know the value of something.