Property owners who believe their homes are being overvalued by the county can go through an appeal process.

But that may not be as likely as you think.

As the Journal-World attempted to contact the owners of several of the 28 homes sold in December that had values higher than their sales prices, it became apparent many weren’t aware of the situation or just didn’t care.

Kelvin Messerschmidt ended up being in both categories. His home in the 4800 block of West 24th Street is valued $24,100 above the price it sold for on Dec. 10. Messerschmidt, a mechanic who commutes to Topeka, wasn’t aware of that until told by the Journal-World, although the appraiser does send out a notice of value to all property owners in March.

At first, Messerschmidt said the value did bother him. But the next day, he said it didn’t. Based on current tax rates, the higher value amounts to $342.53 per year in additional taxes Messerschmidt pays. That’s about $28 a month. Messerschmidt said he’s in the process of making improvements to his house, so he figures the value is bound to raise anyway, and maybe he’ll appeal then.

Sometimes the dollars can be even higher than that and not get a reaction. Allan Williams’ home in the 2900 block of Pebble Lane is valued $41,400 above the sales price. That’s about $590 a year in additional taxes. But Williams said the taxes are about what he expected, so he saw no need to appeal them. He said he thinks he got a deal on the house. He did buy it for about $40,000 less than its asking price.

Some people are upset. Russ Lang, a Realtor with Lawrence’s RE/MAX Real Estate, said he has clients who are getting the short end of the stick. He has feuded with county appraisers on his own properties for years.

“I don’t think they’re really looking at the sales totals,” Lang said. “I think they’re just doing something with their mathematical formulas instead of common sense.”

Douglas County Appraiser Steve Miles disagrees with that. He said his office follows the sales prices of homes, all of which are reported to his office through a questionnaire that must be filled out when a deed is filed at the courthouse.

But Lang said he’s not surprised many people don’t appeal the values.

“The average individual has a job,” Lang said. “They don’t have time to do their homework. They just take the county’s valuation as gospel.”