Market Value

When should I get a property appraised?An appraisal is a professional opinion of the value of a property. Value can be based on the cost to replace a property, the income a property generates, a property's market value or a combination of these.You might want a replacement cost appraisal to make sure you have adequate insurance coverage to rebuild if your house burns down. But at the time you buy a house, you're primarily interested in an appraisal that's based on market value.An appraisal completed by a professional appraiser is required by lenders before they'll approve your home loan.

City Hall is considering selling or leasing 15 historic Baltimore landmarks, including the iconic Shot Tower and stately War Memorial building, which officials believe are underused and could bring the city sorely needed cash. The idea has excited those who say the sites have been neglected and allowed to fall into disrepair. But some preservationists are worried about an uncertain future for buildings they hold dear. "I've never heard about them thinking about anything like this," said Richard S.B. Smith Sr., director of the Friends of Orianda House in Leakin Park, one of the properties to be evaluated.

Dear Mr. Azrael, For the first time ever in my experience [as an attorney], I have been consulted by a client regarding a lowering of the state assessment on three of her properties, one of which is her residence. These properties are in the 1800 block of Madison Ave., and were assessed down from $111,200, $102,720 and $85,200, respectively, to $75,000 each. This area borders on what is known as Bolton Hill, where rates are much higher. The owner feels this is a devaluation which will adversely affect the property values and market prices in her area, which many residents are attempting to upgrade, and is considering an appeal.

First Mariner Bancorp CEO Edwin F. Hale Sr. plans to pump $2 million of his own money into the company in a complex deal that eliminates $20 million in debt - the latest step in the bank's months-long effort to satisfy federal regulators by raising capital and dealing with bad housing loans. First Mariner also disclosed Thursday thatit no longer faces delisting from the Nasdaq Stock Market because the company's stock and market value have increased. To regain compliance with Nasdaq, the stock price had to be at least $1 per share, and the minimum market value of its shares had to be at least $5 million, for 10 consecutive days.

City Hall is considering selling or leasing 15 historic Baltimore landmarks, including the iconic Shot Tower and stately War Memorial building, which officials believe are underused and could bring the city sorely needed cash. The idea has excited those who say the sites have been neglected and allowed to fall into disrepair. But some preservationists are worried about an uncertain future for buildings they hold dear. "I've never heard about them thinking about anything like this," said Richard S.B. Smith Sr., director of the Friends of Orianda House in Leakin Park, one of the properties to be evaluated.

DALLAS - Southwest Airlines Co., not so little anymore, has the highest market value of any U.S. airline. Southwest Chairman Herbert D. Kelleher used Southwest's annual meeting last week to do a little bragging about a decade in which Southwest's growth and profit roared ahead almost unabated. Southwest is the largest airline operating at Baltimore-Washington International Airport. Kelleher said Southwest shares were worth about $757 million at the end of the 1980s. Today, the market value of its shares totals more than $10.6 billion, he told shareholders.

Orioles majority owner Peter Angelos' initial bid to retain pending free-agent pitcher Mike Mussina is a five-year proposal worth $50 million, according to sources familiar with the negotiations. While confirming the club's interest in retaining its most productive pitcher of the past decade, the offer is not considered close to the market value that Mussina insisted last month he will pursue if allowed to enter the free-agent market after this season. Mussina is entering the final installment of a three-year, $20.45 million contract signed in May 1997 at less than market value.

Ravens unrestricted free-agent cornerback Antonio Langham is expected to visit the San Francisco 49ers today and could sign a multi-year contract with the team, according to his agent.One of the top cornerbacks in the free-agent market, Langham, 25, is the only one left from a group that included the Green Bay Packers' Doug Evans and Buffalo Bills' Jeff Burris.Evans, 27, joined the Carolina Panthers last Wednesday, signing a five-year deal worth $22.5 million with a $7.5 million signing bonus.

An article in some editions yesterday about the debut of trading in Netscape Communications Corp. shares on the Nasdaq stock market misstated the total market value of the company. At its peak price of $75 a share on the first trading NTC day, the company's market value would have been approximately $2.85 billion. At its closing price of $58.25 that day, Netscape's market value was approximately $2.21 billion.The Sun regrets the error.

An article in some editions yesterday about the debut of trading in Netscape Communications Corp. shares on the Nasdaq stock market misstated the total market value of the company. At its peak price of $75 a share on the first trading day, the company's market value would have been approximately $2.85 billion. At its closing price of $58.25 that day, Netscape's market value was approximately $2.21 billion.The Sun regrets the error.NEW YORK -- A 15-month-old company that has never made a profit had one of the most stunning debuts in Wall Street history yesterday as investors rushed to pour their money into cyberspace.

The Nasdaq Stock Market has warned First Mariner Bancorp that it failed to meet listing standards and could eventually be dropped from the electronic exchange, the Baltimore bank holding company said Tuesday. First Mariner Bancorp said Tuesday it received two letters last week from Nasdaq. Nasdaq told the parent of 1st Mariner Bank, Baltimore's largest independent bank, that it didn't meet the exchange's minimum requirements for market value and stock price. To trade on the Nasdaq Global Market, First Mariner must maintain a market value of at least $5 million and a $1-per-share stock price for 30 consecutive business days.

Richard Landis bought a house in Anne Arundel County for $165,000 last spring, but the state - for tax purposes - values it at $268,000. The disparity isn't, so far as he can tell, because he got a screaming good deal. It's because the state last assessed his neighborhood two years ago, before prices really began to fall. "It just makes you feel like, 'Lord, I'm being held up without a gun,' " said Landis, 68. So he appealed, rather than wait another year for assessors to return to his Severn neighborhood.

I've been thinking a lot about the job market and career choices lately. Could you blame me, considering the upheaval in the media industry and other sectors in this dismal economy? Sifting through job sites and postings, I noticed that employers frequently ask you to submit salary requirements as part of the application package. I've always been stumped by this because you're often told to avoid throwing out the first number when it comes to salary negotiations. I asked Eileen Levitt, president of Columbia-based The HR Team, a human resources consultant firm, and Mark Jankowski, president of Shapiro Negotiations Institute in Baltimore, which offers corporate training seminars, to share their thoughts on this matter.

Under Armour shares were hammered for a second day yesterday as investors remained skeptical that high marketing costs for a new cross trainer shoe, including a Super Bowl commercial, would justify a trade-off for weak earnings in the first half of the year. Under Armour shares plunged 24.42 percent, or $9.05, to close at $28.01, after dropping more than 13 percent Thursday. The two-day drop of $14.84 erased nearly 35 percent - or $721 million - of the Baltimore sports apparel company's market value.

Orioles executives no longer believed Miguel Tejada had the range to stay at shortstop, and he has never played any other position as a big leaguer. He turns 32 in May, his best offensive years are behind him and he's due $26 million through 2009. His customary enthusiasm has wavered since 2005, and his name previously has been linked with performance-enhancing drugs, so it wouldn't be a surprise if he were mentioned when the Mitchell Report is released today. Therefore, trading Tejada to the Houston Astros for five younger players looks on the surface to be the right move to make.

In a sign that the housing downturn is squeezing even the more resilient areas of the Baltimore region, Columbia's master developer said it plans to lower the estimated market value of its remaining, unsold residential lots in the Howard County community. The developer, General Growth Properties Inc., said in a financial filing yesterday that it expects to take a noncash charge of $77 million, not including tax benefits, during the current quarter to write down the market value of residential land for sale in Columbia, two planned communities in Laurel, also in Howard County, and the Fairwood planned community in Prince George's County.

Many Maryland homeowners recently have received new property tax assessment notices from the state. An assessment estimates the current market value of your property. Local governments apply their tax rates to the assessment in determining the annual taxes for the property. Property is reassessed every three years. An increase in your assessment from the old market value to the current market value is equally divided over three years. This "phase-in" is designed to prevent the full increase in value being subject to taxes in one year.

Marylanders may not get all of the millions of dollars that are due them from Blue Cross unless the state insurance commissioner takes a more aggressive approach toward calculating the value of the company's HMOs, several experts say.Nonprofit Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maryland wants to transfer its health maintenance organizations to a new for-profit business that could sell stock to investors. If the state approves this controversial proposal, the for-profit business would have to pay for the five HMOs, which are considered quite valuable.

What's your house worth? If you think your house was worth more six months ago than it is now, you might be right. It's hard to know for sure until you get an offer. Even then, it's hard to know what's going on with pricing. A multi-unit building on Chicago's South Side was recently appraised at $450,000 but sold for $160,000. Is that building worth nearly a half-million dollars? If other homes in that area were recently foreclosed on, could the subsequent buyer really sell the home for $450,000?