How do I know the value of my home (real estate, house, land and trailer package, camper…)?
No one in the bankruptcy system truly believes that the tax value is a good measure of value. Most of my career it was almost always too low. Now that the real estate market bubble has burst, no one REALLY knows what real estate is worth but a recent estimate from a realtor is the best thing you can get. If you list the wrong value, then you could lose your property in a chapter 7 bankruptcy because the chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee could get someone to give him the real value and you could find him selling your property. I actually had a client whom I begged to get an appraisal of her land and home and she would not. She knew what it was worth. I then begged her daughter to get an appraisal and the two of them reassured me that the property wasn’t worth more than a certain amount. The mother filed bankruptcy and the chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee obtained an appraisal and sold the house for twice what my client “knew” the property was worth. She was homeless and got a check from the bank
