This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

County Assessments Are Still Getting It Wrong

Appeals are being heard, but some home owners are still being pushed around.

The news I received from one of my clients this week really burned my hide. I supplied an appraisal for a client in the city whose home was severely over assessed.

The value of the home was well below the assessed value for many reasons. The home was a marketable home but had some issues and some negative external influences. This home was over assessed by about $35,000. In no way, unless the pipes are gold, would this house sell for $99,900. This home owner contacted me with some concerns when she received her reassessment.

When I initially looked it over, I knew she had a good case to appeal. Not until I visited the property and write the Appraisal did I realize how bad the assessment was inflated. The Appraised value was $65,000 versus the assessed value of $99,900.

Find out what's happening in Chartiers Valleywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Now let's draw a brief, very brief difference between the two. An Appraiser comes to the property, studies the land and inspects the interior and exterior of the home. The Appraiser selects comparable sales and inspects these sales to verify accuracy to determine market value. These assessments were done by an exterior visit with the value coming from raw sales data used by a valuation model to arrive at an assessed value. In no way should this assessment be deemed "market value."

A good Comparison would be checking health symptoms on webMD or going to your physician for a thorough examination. You will get results from both sources but your doctor is the professional. Who would you trust? Okay, so this home owner brings her certified Appraisal to the appeal showing the market value of $65,000. They take the documents to process and compare with the documents they have. The home owner received a letter weeks later stating that they have reduced her assessment to $79,900. How? Why? Are you kidding me? That was my response. Sure, they lowered the assessment but with what justification or reliable data brought that number?

Find out what's happening in Chartiers Valleywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The value of that home is $65,000, it is ridiculous and unfounded to assess that home at $79,900. I advised this homeowner to appeal further until they get it right. They are still getting it wrong, even after a chance to get it right. In no arena would an assessment stand up to an Appraisal done by a certified Appraiser.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Chartiers Valley