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Lexur provided appraisal, clerical and data entry personnel to assist Franklin County in completing the six year revaluation of Franklin County’s 438,000 parcels. Working under the management of County staff, Lexur had seventy (70) personnel working on the project at its peak.
Residential and agricultural property characteristics were verified at the desktop by seventeen (17) technical specialists and commercial and industrial properties were viewed both at the desktop and in the field. Final values were produced, reviewed in the field, and a tentative abstract was submitted in early June 2011.
Informal reviews were scheduled at various locations in August and September. Over 20,000 property owners took advantage of the process. Lexur appraisers handled the reviews and follow-up efforts on schedule to produce a final abstract in November 2011.
What We Learned:
In both Hamilton and Franklin County the economic impact of the recession created a unique appraisal problem. For over 3 decades values continued to increase and property owners saw their investment grow. With the real estate values declining, property ownership entered an unfamiliar scenario. While all segments of the real estate market were affected, unban vs. suburban vs. rural properties did not feel the impact equally. In the low end market where predatory lending was prevalent, the market was saturated with distressed sales and financing was difficult to secure. Higher down payments or all cash transfers changed these areas into an investors market. Many residential properties that were previously owner occupied became rentals that now must be valued as an income producing property. In the high end market, a limited number of buyers produced lower values also. Areas offering good amenities such as schools, shopping, police and fire protection, parks and recreation had lesser declines.
Research of the sales is by far the most important part of the valuation process. Use of multiple listing services is extremely important and gives the appraiser the ability to not only verify the sale prices, but also allows the appraiser to verify certain interior data that is not readily available. With foreclosures, short sales, and cash transactions all affecting the market, it is imperative that the sales validation process be thorough. Most tables, models, and valuation tools are linked to the sales data so the accuracy of the data is very important.
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