Steven Miles and Sharon Dominik, from the Douglas County Appraiser’s office, will be in to take questions about property valuations.

hawkperchedatriverfront

What are the property taxes on a condo at Hobbs Taylor that would sell for $200,00 for example and what are the taxes on a $200,000 house in Prairie Park neighborhood?
The dollar amounts please?

KsTwister

Having paid an appraiser to help set a sell price for a house I found that a few days before the closing of the sell the same appraiser came in (for the buyers) and reappraised it $4k higher. Was this common practice so they could get a larger loan?

kugrad

The law gives you authority to tax property. The fees paid to realtors are not property, nor are they part of the value of the property. They are fees for services. Shouldn’t your tax basis be the actual cost of the property minus the fees paid to realtors? In my opinion, you are exceeding your tax authority.

Moderator

Hi everyone,

I’m Christine Metz, today’s moderator and thanks for joining us. Today we have Sharon Dominik and Steven Miles with the Douglas County Appraiser’s Office to answer your questions. Sharon works with valuing commercial properties and Steven deals with residences.

Thanks Sharon and Steven for taking the time to chat with us today.

Steven Miles and Sharon Dominik

Hello, welcome to the chat room

Moderator

Well lets get started. Our first question comes from justthefacts.

justthefacts

What types of information or facts do you take into consideration when setting the appraised value of a residential property? Are there special or different rules when appraising business property? How do Douglas county values compare to values in surrounding counties? And finally, over the years you’ve been working on valuing property in Douglas county, how much % increase have you seen in real estate values?

Steven Miles and Sharon Dominik

Steven: The appraiser’s office consider the similarities in properties compared to sold properties. to help determine value. Some things are square foot of livinga area, year built, number of bedrooms and condition.
Sharon: Commercial properties are primarily valued by the income approach, that is, the amount of rent a property would typically generate, not the income of the business in the building. That income (rent) will change by the use and location of the property, the size and the age. Vacancy and expenses are subtracted from the income and the net operating income is then capitalized to determine a most likely value.
Sharon & Steven: We have no idea how Douglas Co values compare to neighboring counties.
Sharon: Over the past few years a range in increase in values in commercial is generally 5 – 10%. Sometimes higher.
Steven: Residential has been about the same.

Moderator

Our next question comes from hawkperchedatriverfront. As part of his question he asked
how the appariser’s office compares sales prices in the immediate neighborhood. He asks……
“If a house in Prairie Park next to the grade school sells for $200,000, how can the appraiser’s office raise the valuations of the properties a block away from $200,000 to $206,000(3%) and the same again for2008. At some point, the valuations have got to stop being raised. It appears that the county is failing to inrease the higher end houses because they aren’t selling BUT continue to raise the valuations of the lower end properties even though the selling prices of comparable houses are not selling.”

Steven Miles and Sharon Dominik

The appraiser’s office completes a market study for each neighborhood each year to determine the average change in sale prices. Sale prices have continually been increasing. Neighborhoods for mass appraisal are often defined in broader or larger areas than most people think of them. We look at similarity in sale prices, size, design and proximity to external factors such as schools, work and shopping.
Appraisal tends to be based on historic sales. We are not trying to predict the future.

redglare

Some east Lawrence streets have exposed brick surfaces. My block, Rhode Island between 16th and 17th has brick underneath the asphalt. I love the look of brick streets and hope the asphalt is removed and the bricks restored. Do brick streets affect property values?

Also, my next door neighbors are adding on to their house — a two story, two room addition. Will this affect my property’s valuation? How? Thanks!

Steven Miles and Sharon Dominik

As you say “I love the look of brick streets and hope the asphalt is removed and the bricks restored”. Many other people do too. this incresaes the desireability and may affect your valualtion. Of Course it is all in the buyers perception. Your neighbor’s addition project probably won’t affect your value unless they sell their property and the addition has made it more comparable to yours.

Moderator

We’ve got time for one last question.

perkins

How much contact do you have with commissioners? Do the elected officials ever hint that a higher valuation would sure be helpful so they would not need to raise the mill levy to get more tax funds?

Steven Miles and Sharon Dominik

We have no contact with any of the commissioners. In our combined 36 years here in the appraser’s office, we have never had any of the commissioners hint nor request anything of the kind.

Moderator

That’s all the questions we have time for today. Thanks so much Sharon and Steven for taking time out of your day to answer our questions. I hope today’s chat gave our readers a better understanding of how homes and businesses are valued.