Land Assessments Were Misinterpreted

I am an Appraiser located in Bridgeville and have been deeply involved in the appeal process. Home owners have been hiring me to supply them with Appraisals to fight their appeal. In the process of analyzing all of these assessments, something hit me. Why doesn't the county or the courts just put a freeze on the land values?

In most cases I've seen, the land values have tripled. How can our land triple in the last 10 years in an area with stable values and considering the fact that we had a market collapse recently? The mass Appraisal company really dropped the ball here. The land values have been sincerely misrepresented in the fact that there is "double dipping" if you will.

Let me explain what I mean. We have received two separate "values" (and I use that term lightly), land and building. The land value has been overstated. The land has been valued at its square footage of the full lot but the area where the house sits has also been included in this. If they are going to value the land separately, the value should be based on the land minus the area where the house sits. The company has valued the land as if the home is not on the property. This is a huge problem in valuing a property. This is a reason why the system is so flawed.

During the Appraisal process, the real appraisal process by a certified Appraiser, the value is based on the home and land together in which the land typically comes out to be 20-30% of the market value. This company has valued the land as if there is a vacant lot sitting there without a house on it.

To further explain, let's say you have a 2,500 square foot lot with a 1,200 square foot ranch on it. If the building has its own value, the land value cannot be based on 2,500 square feet of property. That value has to be based on 1,300 square feet ( 2,500 -1,200 square foot home) of the remaining land left, considering the building takes up 1,200 square feet of the land and has its own "value". 

The land values have been misrepresented and a way to fix this egregious error is to put a halt or a freeze on the new land values.  This will not fix all of the reassessments but what I have witnessed so far is that the most errors are in the overstated land values.