Determining property value when it's to be used as a down payment

So I bought some land. I want to build a house on it. Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that I paid $50,000 for the land. I just got my first property tax bill, though, and it says that the land has been assessed at $60,000.

Now, I had been intending to use the equity in the land as the down payment for my eventual construction loan/mortgage. What will the bank think of my land’s value? Will it look at what I paid? Or what the County thinks it’s worth? Or will they do their own assessment, which could have no relation to either? (And, as near as I can tell, the real estate market hasn’t changed dramatically in the past 6 months.)

  • toadspittle, hoping I have $60,000 to use toward my down payment, rather than $50,000

The mortgage co. will have their own appraiser look at it and decide the value. One of many variables is recent sale price. But sometimes there are shenanigans in such prices so value of nearby properties are taken into account. In some jurisdictions, the “assessed value” has nothing to do with appraised value so they are usually not given much weight. However, if the assessment actually does reflect real changes in real estate values, then maybe it could suggest some hope. Suggest.

Appraisers can be good or really, really, lousy.

(Still stinging at having my house appraised for $20,000 less than it’s real value for our re-fi. The smaller house that sold two doors down for $17,000 more was ignored. While a farther away heap was counted. Ranch, no basement. We have a two story with basement. Hardly comparable.)