As revaluation notices arrive, new numbers are the talk of the town
Revaluation notices arrive this week.
By DAVID BORAKS
DavidsonNews.net
At meetings, Summit Coffee, the grocery store and all around town, Davidson homeowners are comparing notes about the revaluation notices they’ve received this week from Mecklenburg County. For many, the notices show higher home values, a reflection of the real estate market’s growth since the last revaluation in 2003.
The notices went out Monday to owners of 297,584 residential properties – both homes and lots. County officials said notices will go out next month for many condo and townhome owners, and those who own commercial property. (See Feb. 1, 2011, “Reval notices due next week; condo owners will have to wait.” )
Values across Davidson’s 28036 Zip code are up an average of 25 percent, according to an analysis by The Charlotte Observer. That’s well above the county average. County officials say that after appeals, they expect the average tax bill to be up 6-8 percent.
Among the surprises is old Davidson, where some property owners reported increases of 50 to 100 percent. Some houses on Lorimer Road gained 70 to 80 percent, and several doubled in tax value (more than 100 percent increases). Similar increases were seen elsewhere in neighborhoods close to Main Street.
On the West Side, including Westside Terrace and Lakeside Drive, property values in most cases were up. Many homes’ values rose 20 to 50 percent. One home on Westside Terrace tripled in value, while another doubled. (Both homes are still listed at less than $50,000.)
Before Tuesday’s Town Board meeting at Town Hall, a handful of residents were sharing the news. One Woodland Street homeowner said his home valuation was up 60 percent from 2003, to $514,900. A South Street homeowner’s value rose 46 percent, from $244,000 to $357,400.
Sitting outside Summit Coffee on Wednesday, a resident of River Falls Drive in River Run reported his home value did not change from 1993. But he said some neighbors in River Run saw increases.
Rodney Graham of the St. Alban’s neighborhood saw his home value rise 30 percent. He’s also a local home builder and said that based on the his own home and other property his company owns, he thinks the revaluation was “pretty fair, although not perfect.” He said he plans to appeal three of his valuations.
But Mr. Graham was more interested in what the data appear to show about the value of homes in Davidson. “Be it Davidson or Charlotte, values have increased the most the closer you get to the downtown center. In Davidson, values in the infill increased 50 percent, while in the big neighborhoods on the outskirts of town values only went up 10 percent over 8 years,” Mr. Graham said.
Mr. Graham often builds in the old part of town and says the market is reflecting demand for locations near town or city centers. “More and more people value being able to live in areas where they can walk to attractions rather than having to get in the car all the time. Downtown Davidson is unique. You can’t replicate it. That’s why the values have gone up so much,” he said.
[You can look up changes in your own neighborhood using a tool on The Observer website.]
State law requires counties to set new property values at least every eight years. County officials delayed this revaluation because of the poor economy.
How will the revaluation affect tax assessments? That won’t be known until local governments – both the county and towns – set their new tax rates late this spring. Most governments re-set their tax rates after a valuation to a “revenue neutral” position, which means the revaluation would not change how much a property owner pays in taxes. But with the county and town budgets in trouble this year, it’s likely elected officials will at least discuss potential tax increases.
The Mecklenburg County Commission and town boards will set new rates by the end of the fiscal year, June 30. Property tax bills with new values and new rates are expected to be mailed in September.
County officials said they have reviewed market data as of Jan. 1 to arrive at the new valuations. This year, after the slump in the real estate market, they’ve paid extra attention to foreclosures and “distressed” sales.
In announcing the mailing of notices this week, the county said. “Whether an individual’s value goes up or down depends on a variety of factors and many neighborhoods hit hard by foreclosures and slow sales may see their value drop. Revaluation is the process of equalizing the tax value and the market value of residential and commercial properties.”
WANT TO APPEAL
Revaluation notices are dated Feb. 8. If you disagree with your assessment, you can file an informal appeal before March 10. Instructions are on the revaluation notice. Additional information about the revaluation and the appeals process is on the county’s revaluation web page, reval.charmeck.org.
Thanks for another informative article, David! I agree completely with Rodney’s assessment of the increase in value for homes within walking distance of downtown Davidson’s shopping, services and other amenities.
Our value went up 28%, which is about what we’d expected…and that appears to be something of a mid-point in our part of McConnell.
Something I’d be interested in hearing Rodney comment on, however, is (generally) for what reasons he’s planning to appeal the three properties he referenced. Were those properties re-val’ed way too high, way too low, and what’s the ‘threshold’ for when he feels an appeal is warranted. I can see doing it if the new valuation is extreme (either direction), but I’ve always been confused about appealing…perhaps he–or others–could explain when it’s appropriate to do so, as opposed to simply appealing for (shall we say) ‘political’ reasons.
Thanks.
We’ve had a few readers offer their experiences and thoughts on the revaluation this afternoon:
Roley Altizer of Armour Street says the valuation on his 16-year-old home is up 17 percent. He also wonders if his old neighborhood, McConnell, is up a lot. Indeed it is. A quick search of the Observer database for Ashby Drive in McConnell shows property values there up 30 to 50 percent (though a few were up less than 10 percent).
Derek May of Naramore Street in the Davidson Bay Neighborhood, off Beaty Street, says his 2-year-old townhouse was unchanged. But adds that a recent appraisal put a higher value on it. “I think you hit it spot-on (and Rodney Graham too), that the downtown spots are not overvalued for taxes, they’ve just been fortunate to have had artificially low tax rates for a few years. We would have loved to live in an old house off Lorimer or South Street, but to find anything even now for under $300k would have been either an empty lot or a bulldozer-special!”
Meanwhile, we also heard from another reader in the River Run neighborhood who reports his tax valuation also is significantly below a recent appraisal. He thinks it doesn’t reflect recent work – a new roof and kitchen. He plans to appeal.
George, in one case the county valued a 100 foot wide x 40 foot deep parcel I own as if it were a buildable lot (it’s not, unless I can find a 10 foot deep house plan to go on it). In another case they very accurately valued a 0.37-acre lot upon which I am permitted to build a 3,500 square foot home plus basement, but then they gave an identical value to a nearby 0.16 acre lot upon which I can only build a 2,500 square foot home, without a basement. So, I think they did a good job at assessing the “typical” 1/3-acre lot in downtown Davidson, but missed the atypical, smaller lots and did not take into account the building size restrictions we have in Davidson.
Again, I think by and large they were reasonably accurate with completed homes, although far from perfect. A couple examples are two homes that I built at roughly the same time in roughly the same location in Davidson. They graded one of them “very good” and the other “excellent” when the reality is that the one they considered “very good” has much more expensive interior finishes than the “excellent” one. But, the appraisers don’t go inside the house.
Another example is that I built 2 houses side by side within 10 months of each other, both very similar quality construction (and both graded the same by the appraiser). But, the house that is 900 square feet larger than the other actually received a value of about 10 percent less than the smaller house. So, someone could probably have a field day taking the assessor’s office to task with discrepancies such as these.
Thanks, Rodney–so it’s *really* a case of having specific issues with actual appraisals, rather than a “we do this generally because…” sort of thing. That makes sense. Thanks for the input!