03-15-2008, 01:09 PM
John, I didn't expect the value to decrease, but neither did I expect them to double it! Which they did, in one year, and with no new permits pulled to reflect any upgrades.
The tax office told me they are going by market now; I believe that's why it's going up. Specifically, they are taking sales for the neighborhood and using them as comps, so if the neighborhood has seen mostly upscale home purchases, as mine has, that's reflected.
It's not new that they use closed sales figures. Our vacant land in Hilo was dramatically increased in value in 2005, and when I called about that, they again cited average sales figures to justify the assessment, taken from when we had a very hot market.
The tax office told me they are going by market now; I believe that's why it's going up. Specifically, they are taking sales for the neighborhood and using them as comps, so if the neighborhood has seen mostly upscale home purchases, as mine has, that's reflected.
It's not new that they use closed sales figures. Our vacant land in Hilo was dramatically increased in value in 2005, and when I called about that, they again cited average sales figures to justify the assessment, taken from when we had a very hot market.