Sunday, April 9, 2017

Did your assessment on your home go up considerably?





What is Assessed value of a Home?

An assessed value is the dollar value assigned to a property to measure applicable taxes. Assessed valuation determines the value of a residence for tax purposes and takes comparable home sales and inspections into consideration.

Fair Market Value
A property's fair market value (FMV) is a determination of what price the property would probably sell for if it were available on the open market. FMV is based on a number of factors, including size, features and condition of the property, supply and demand in the local housing market and recent market history (e.g., what similar nearby properties sold for within the past 18 months). While anyone can calculate a property's FMV, only determinations made by licensed property appraisers are considered valid by mortgage lenders and local property tax offices.

The following was from Polk county Iowa assessor website:
Market Value
·       An estimate of the price a property would sell for on the open market on January 1 of the assessment year
·       Sometimes referred to as an "arms length transaction" or "willing buyer/willing seller" concept
Supply and Demand in the Three Approaches to Value
·       The common element in all three approaches is that they must contain terms that represent the workings of both the supply and demand sides of the market
·       Each approach uses different sources of data to represent supply and demand

Accurate Market Data
·       All the approaches to estimate value depend in some way on market information
·       Assessor records must contain complete and accurate information about the sales prices and conditions of properties sold in the jurisdiction
·       Change
·       Market value is never constant because physical, economic, social, and government forces are at work to change the property and its environment.
·       Sales Ratio
·       In Iowa, residential and commercial property is assessed at 100 percent market value. Therefore, sale prices and assessed values must stay in sync. If the median assessment to sale price ratio (e.g. assessments divided by sale prices) in any given area deviates from the statutory 100 percent level by a difference of more than plus or minus 5 percent, the Iowa Department of Revenue steps in and mandates an across the board adjustment to bring things back into compliance. This is called equalization , and is generally not a good thing because it means all property values are affected, when usually only some are causing the problem.
·       A number of counties in Iowa have very few property sales in a given year. It is for this reason the Iowa Department of Revenue and Finance conducts appraisal of randomly selected property in each county-- they use this information to calculate assessment / appraisal ratios. In Polk County, this information is usually not received in time to be used in the assessment process, but it can be important in determining whether or not an equalization order will be forthcoming.
·       Arms length transaction
·       A sale between two unrelated parties, both seeking to maximize their positions from the transaction
·       Sales ratio
·       Sales Ratio = Assessed Value of the property / Sale Price of the property


Current Sales Statistics

o   Includes only deed sales that the assessor believes are "good" for market analysis
o   Sales with partially constructed dwellings are excluded
o   Sales with multiple dwellings are excluded
o   Includes only deed sales that the assessor believes are "good" for market 

·       Protesting Your Assessed Value

·       Property owners who disagree with the assessor’s estimate of the market value of their property should ask themselves, "Could I sell this property for that amount today?" If the answer is yes, then the value is probably correct. However, every property owner has the right to appeal an assessment. Remember that your protest and the information you use to support your appeal should be based on your property’s actual value on the assessment date (January 1).
·       Property owners may appeal their initial assessments to local boards of review by filing a written protest between April 2nd and April 30th of each year.If April 30th falls on a weekend, the deadline is extended to the following business day. These boards meet annually in May to consider the protests. Petition forms to the board of review are available at the local assessor’s office and from our web site at
www.assess.co.polk.ia.us - Protest Information



If you would like to know what your current value on your home is let us know we can help.

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