Multi-Family property value

[Omer Husain]

Newbie question here. I was looking at a MF property with 10 units listed for $485,000, however, when I checked the county appraisal site just to get a rough idea of their assessed value, it shows $170K for both assessed and market value. Now I know that SFR and MF properties are valued using a different approach, but why such a big difference in the two prices? What am I missing here? Sorry for sounding like such a novice.

Omer

[Ned Carey]

What you are looking at from the county is the tax assessment, not an appraisal. Tax assessments are notorious for being way off.  Sometimes they are way low, probably the case in your deal. Sometimes they are way high. 

Ignore the tax assessment other than to know what taxes will be in the short run. Longer run it may get reassessed based on  your purchase price. 

Multifamily and commercial properties are priced based on the income they produce. A full explanation of that is not a post, it is a book or week long course. There is a lot of info here on BP on valuing properties.