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Loudoun County Real Estate Assessments

Discussion in 'Broadlands Community Issues' started by Capricorn1964, Jan 25, 2011.

  1. Capricorn1964

    Capricorn1964 Well-Known Member

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    I guess everyone is receiving their latest Real Estate Assessment papers for 2011 by now. I opened mine up yesterday and WTH??? My house assessment went up?!?! At a time when real estate values are declining in broadlands area?!?!? Something is seriously wrong here....is anyone experiencing the same thing? Anyone thinking about appealing or letting it go? Our assessments should be declining, not increasing in this gawawful market! :angryfire:
     
  2. afgm

    afgm Ashburn Farm Resident

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    First thing you need to do is make sure they have the correct profile and specifications of your house. i.e. number of bathrooms, walkouts, patios, gas/electric heat, etc.

    Second, and probably more impactful is to make sure they have the square footage correct.

    All this data is fed into a formula.

    From what I understand the assessor will take comps from your neighborhood then come up with a value per sq ft. Then they take that value and multiple if by the square footage of your house they have on record. Then the other specifics are calculated and can increase or decrease the ultimate assessment.

    So first check the details and get them corrected if wrong. The next step and more difficult is to challenge the comps they are using in your area. That becomes tougher to negotiate and effect a change.

    One other note, each house, street or neighborhood is drawn into an "area". Everyone in the area gets effected by the same comps. So you might want to check to see if you have issues with the "area" they have put you in.
     
  3. greggbroadlands

    greggbroadlands New Member

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    Mine went up the last two years, as have the home prices in the area. They're not on the bottom like they once were.
     
  4. Steve Campot

    Steve Campot Broadlands Real Estate Broker

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    I can understand why you believe that the current real estate market is,"gawawful". With all the negative news out there but most the stats they refer too are national numbers. A great place to get local reports is: http://policy-cra.gmu.edu/. If you look at these unbiased stats you will see that housing prices in the DC metro market are up 5%, one of the highest jumps in the country. Living and breathing real estate full time I can assure you your house is worth more in 2010 then in 2009. However it is going to take a while to get back to the crazy 2006 prices.

    I hope that helps!

    Steve Campot
    Real Estate Broker
    www.sgcrealestate.com
     
  5. Mike-and-Kim

    Mike-and-Kim Member

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    We are up about 1% this year I think.

    FWIW still less than value the bank "appraised" at when we refi'd which was around a year ago. The guy did not even get the number of rooms right, that was courtesy of mid-atlantic.

    I know of at least one house that recently sold over assessment, so thankfully we're not getting taxed at that.
     
  6. GeauxTigers

    GeauxTigers Member

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    Mine went up about 5%. In following the prices in Broadlands the last year or so, I am not sure that is wrong. It seems the prices have been marginally higher than they had been in 2009. However I'd not be shocked if something funny is going on since both of our vehicles somehow increased in value by a couple thousand dollars from 2009 to 2010, per the county assessments. It will be interesting to see if they go up yet again this year.
     
  7. razng2grtboys

    razng2grtboys New Member

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    Mine went down 4% from 2010 to 2011.
     
  8. vacliff

    vacliff "You shouldn't say that."

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    My assessment went up $45K, an 8% increase, and assessed for more than I can sell it for.
     
  9. Capricorn1964

    Capricorn1964 Well-Known Member

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    Now that is EXACTLY what Im talking about here. I do know of some other houses of the same model as mine on Ridgeway that are selling for LESS than the assessments for that model...This is nuts because we cannot sell for what the county is assessing us for. I hope that they aren't going to raise the tax rates...if so, Im gonna scream bloody murder because its just tax, tax, tax. Maybe we Broadlanders should have a Loudoun Tea Party a la Boston Tea Party to protest the taxes. We are just being taxed to death many times over for everything in our lives. Car tax, house tax, tolls, yadda, yadda.....sigh. :scaredeyes:
     
  10. T8erman

    T8erman Well-Known Member

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    Ours went DOWN almost $34k, 7.5%
     
  11. Capricorn1964

    Capricorn1964 Well-Known Member

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    I just found that a much larger home than my own--right across the street that has larger square footage, larger deck square footage, and has an additional bedroom was sold for less than what my house was assessed for.

    This is nuts. They sold in December for exactly what the assessment was for.
     
  12. Steve Campot

    Steve Campot Broadlands Real Estate Broker

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  13. glencastle

    glencastle The Paterfamilias

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    I have a basic question about how they calculate your house's square footage. My assessment shows "total living area", then "total basement" and "finished basement". Is the total living area considered just the 1st and 2nd stories or is the finished basement footage included in that number?

    Same question for the realtors, in terms of MLS listings.

    Any insight is greatly appreciated. Just occurred to me that I don't have an adequate grasp on this.
     
  14. RobVT3

    RobVT3 New Member

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    My understanding is that the finished basement SF is (or should be) included in the total living area number. I've seen some inconsistencies in it though.
     
  15. afgm

    afgm Ashburn Farm Resident

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    I think RobVT3 is right. I am not an expert.
     
  16. CoachCal

    CoachCal New Member

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    Make sure you're not comparing against Short Sales or Foreclosures.

    I just checked and our assessment went down 1.2% from 2009 to 2010. It's also listed about $30K less than a recent appraisal and $30-50K less than what similar homes were selling for in Broadlands recently.

    If anything, the assessment from the state is on the low side of what it should be, at least for us.

    Appears the tax rate has been slowly increasing though to basically offset the lower pricing :rolleyes3:

    Property Tax Rates
    2006 - 0.89%
    2007 - 0.917%
    2008 - 1.14%
    2009 - 1.245%
    2010 - 1.30%

    Overall our Annual Taxes Levied have remained basically the same the last 5 years, as the assessments basically mirror the tax rate changes (one goes down, the other goes up)
     
  17. Steve Campot

    Steve Campot Broadlands Real Estate Broker

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    In the MLS the total finished square feet includes the basement. Take all measurements as estimates and double check them if the number is important.
     
  18. Steve Campot

    Steve Campot Broadlands Real Estate Broker

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    Ya the tax man is going to get his one way or another...
     
  19. afgm

    afgm Ashburn Farm Resident

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    Good observation. This is what drives me nuts when people complain about the tax rate. Anti-tax zealots will always say something like, "the sky is falling our tax rate went up from $1.24 to $1.30, blah blah". It's an irrelevant number until it is compared to the actual assessment. The assessment fluctuates as much as the tax rate. Trying to make political points by using just the tax rate is disingenuous. I am all for people tasking the powers to be with holding taxes down, but at least argue with relevance.

     
  20. BTrost

    BTrost New Member

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    I've been here in Loudoun since 1998, and unfortunately, I've never had a year where my taxes have not increased. I've let our board people know that when we hit NJ level of taxation, people will not be happy...
     

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