If you own a home, there are two prices attached to it:
- The price you pay for it or can sell it for (that's the market value).
- What your home is officially worth (that's the assessed value).
Why two house prices? To keep things interesting—and to get you to pay your taxes. Your state charges you property taxes just for the privilege of living in the state. They charge more for the guy living in the McMansion than they do for the guy living in the one-bedroom bungalow (usually), but they still need to figure out who pays what.
Each state is a little different. Some states use a formula and don't even worry too much about what you paid for your house or what your house's value is. In California, you pony up 1.25% of the price you paid for your home, with some adjustments for inflation. In other states, an assessor takes a look at your home every so often and comes up with a dollar figure of what the house is officially worth for tax purposes. Usually, that number is lower than what you actually paid for your hose, and if you whine enough, the assessor may make an adjustment so that for that year at least, your tax bill can come down.
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Finance: What is the Difference Between ...42061 Views
finance a la shmoop. what's the difference between market value and book
value? ever tried to sell sunscreen to a white Walker? yeah [zombie walks through snow]
probably won't make much money. want to know why? now learning about the
difference between market value and book value will tell it all. first market
value it's what the market thinks a stock or a bond or a home or a used car
or whatever is worth. the market the crowd the crazy people.
all right here's an example of market value gone wild in the 17th century [crowd then tulip pictured]
Denmark, they valued a single tulip at 10 grand and it didn't even give them a
triple espresso buzz. go figure. but that's how the market of buyers
valued that tulip so that's what that tulips market value was. that's what the
market said it was worth. Book value however is a completely different in a [man walks through art gallery]
somewhat more rational animal .book value is the dollar amount that a company can
point to which reflects an asset they physically own. imagine buying a tractor
factory for 80 million bucks. it depreciates in value 10 million dollars
a year for 4 years then depreciates that 2 million dollars a year after that. so
after five years that factories Book value ie the amount we're guessing its [chart showing depreciation]
value as actually being is 38 million dollars. but lo and behold the factory
itself is made of Valyrian steel .you know that stuff from Game of Thrones
that kills White Walkers. so after eight years and one white Walker invasion of
Chicago later you decide to sell the factory itself because well the stuff [zombies walk in front of skyscrapers]
it's built out of, that rare material, is suddenly worth a lot more than the
factory .now after eight years the book value of the factory might be 32 million
dollars, but some bitter on eBay of tractor companies offers you a hundred
million bucks! and you accept! that hundred million dollars was the market [man sits behind computer screen]
value of the tractor factory even though the book value said it was worth a whole
lot less. securities actually work the same way. they are traded regularly in a
market place and they reflect their market value even though the book value
at which they are held is often a lot less. and what about Chicago well let's [smiling man carries bags of cash]
just say no one's selling much sunscreen these days.
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