Its beginning to feel a lot like reassessment…

Reassessment season is here.  This is good news for government entities, real estate appraisers and bloggers who like to write about local tax issues.  It is bad news for everyone else.  The traditional start, the first-pitch if you will, of reassessment season is the article by the Post-Dispatch announcing the mailing, accompanied by the school district breakdown, which serves the role of the opening day starting pitcher.  This year’s Post article, very well done as always by Clay Barbour, is here.  My first reaction to the news of large increases in value was a double-take, as everyone is well aware that the real estate market has been terrible for the past year.  Maybe they mostly used 2005 sales, but I think people who appeal will be able to have a great deal of success by finding lower values from very recent sales or, better yet, depending on your point of view, introducing evidence of the many homes throughout our area that have not sold at all.  Feel free to e-mail your horror stories of homes that increase in value by 90% when their neighbors all go up 10% to david.stokes@showmeinstitute.org.  You can rest assured that I will follow this closely and don’t be afraid to appeal your assessment if you think it is warranted!