Many times when blanket assessments are done on homes, the resulting values are inaccurate and a result of a ''quick fix'' mentality. Often adjustments are made using a factor or multiplier to adjust values. Not that a blanket reappraisals accuracy is much better, because it also suffers from lack of diligence to detail.



Municipalities reappraise the homes within their borders by hiring blanket appraisal companies. This is done in a bidding process and the low bid wins. If the bid allocation was only $38 per home and the blanket appraiser needed to make a profit, how much time can actually be spent per home? The people the appraiser hires are time-pressed to make their observations.

Property tax assessments derived from blanket assessment abound with errors. These estimations of value are even derived by multipliers of the previous year's assessment. If the original assessment was wrong, multiplying that assessment adds nothing to clarify the value.

If the building and tax department cooperated, there would be no need for a blanket reappraisal. Building permits and final market values could be incorporated into the individual values of homes with the tax role. There would be no need for blanket reassessment duplicating already established values.

Tax assessors are time pressed and rarely appraise homes. Usually, they are not property appraisers and are politically appointed. Often they use an entirely different method to derive value for a home by using a cost of materials approach. The universally accepted approach is the market value, what an informed buyer would pay for a home.

Selling prices of homes are constantly changing. When appealing your property taxes, only market value holds weight. Your home must equal the current selling price of other comparable home in your area.

A huge amount of money is spent on blanket municipal appraisals. Sure they may catch the occasional patio or shed built without a permit, but that does not warrant the extra appraisal cost.

Blanket reassessments are opportunities for appeal because of the high error rate. Homeowners need to do a simple analysis to determine if their home's market value is in line with the assessed value assigned to their home.