I visited with the folks at the county appraisal district today regarding the increase in my property value assessment. I discussed the sales activity in our neighborhood during the past year - the four unsuccessful attempts to sell and the two that did sell and asked how they could justify an increase. Their response was 1) the failure of the four neighborhood listings to sell had no bearing on property values, 2) one of the sales (the foreclosure) was in late 2008 and has no bearing on the recent property value assessment, and 3) they have no record of the most recent sale (I learned the sale was delayed and the house has not closed.).
Since there have been no sales in the past year, asked why my assessment had increased ( BTW, the increase was 1.4%, not the 4.7% I stated earlier) and was told it was simply a construction replacement cost increase. I asked, as politely as I could muster, if they were living under a rock and weren't aware of the quarry going in next door (we're still fighting it but the writing is on the wall). I was assured they were well aware of it and that it would likely negatively impact the value of the homes in our neighborhood. They explained until a house sells in our neighborhood they have no way to measure the impact of the quarry and cannot adjust our property values. When I pointed out the obvious fact no one had been able to sell a house out here in the past year and the quarry going in would make it even more difficult to find a buyer, I was told, "Sorry, that's the law."
Bottom line, before any of us living here can get our assessed property values lowered to reflect reality someone is going to have to sell/give away their house.
What a fustercluck.
