Loudoun Real Estate Assessments, Assessed Values and Appeal Process FAQs

I spent part of yesterday at the Dulles Area Association of REALTORS(R) for a presentation given by Todd Kaufman, Loudoun County Assessor (pictured above), regarding Loudoun County real estate assessments and the appeal process. Speaking alongside Todd Kaufman were Jennifer Sanderson, Operations Manager for the Loudoun County Assessor’s Office and Jim White, Supervising Appraiser, Ashburn Office, Residential Division.

Here are some of the highlights of the presentation and what they had to say…

2010 Loudoun County Real Estate Assessment Overview - Todd Kaufman, Loudoun County Assessor

• The Loudoun County Assessor’s Office revised their mission statement - “biggest change and push is customer service”
• Hard to fight budget and tax rate as an individual through court system, but easier to appeal tax assessment
• Different classification of properties (7 total) based on type, use, density, acreage, etc
• Tax rate is the same for all areas and properties except for Route 28 corridor (commercial)
• Loudoun County real estate assessment is down overall, but much less of a decline in 2009 than previous years
• Some areas in Loudoun such as Sugarland Run saw an increase in the average assessed value
• 64% of Loudoun County’s tax base comes from residential property. About 20% comes from commercial/industrial property
• Loudoun’s residential tax base is down almost 10% over last 5 years while commercial is up about 5% over same period
• Dulles District is by far the number one area for tax revenue/base (mainly because it has the most number of residential properties located within it)
• Overall change in real property assessments in Loudoun County - declined 3.29% ($1.97B) from 2009 to 2010
• Change in “equalized” value - down average of 4.79%
• Loudoun County new construction/growth up $569M in 2009 to $899.6M in 2009, but down from almost $5B 5 years ago (during the boom market)
• 25,000 parcels (aka lots) are ready for development in Loudoun County
• “2010 assessed values show sign of recovery”
• Average assessed value in Loudoun County is $354,000 (not to be confused with market value or average sales price)
• Assessed values up almost 500 percent since 1992. Rapid upswing from 2001 to 2006 and then sharp decline to 2009. Slight decrease in 2010. “Hoping for stabilization moving forward”
• Loudoun County has $4.8B in total assessed value in exempt properties
• Howard Hughes Medical Center is tax exempt, but gives $1M to schools and $200K to fire/rescue on their own (completely voluntary)
• Loudoun has 1600 foreclosures in 2009
• Decline in foreclosures, but increase in short-sales
• Most number of foreclosures in 2009 were in Sterling (which only has 7000 parcels/homes). Dulles District was number two, but it has 30,000 parcels/properties. Overall number of foreclosures is diminishing overall though
• 30 year old system being used to determine Loudoun County assessed values
• Each assessor in the Loudoun County Assessor’s Office is responsible for assessing an average of 7,000 properties (between the 30 year old system and 7,000 per person work load, no wonder it’s hard to get the assessed values right)

Louduon County Assessed Value Appeal/Review Process - Todd Kaufman, Loudoun County Assessor

• There is a mandate as to how the appeal/review process works
• Loudoun County has to follow statutes and codes as to process
• There are 5 steps to the Appeal/Review process…

1. Assessment notice sent out by Loudoun County and reviewed by home owner.
2. Home owner must submit application for review (processed within assessor’s office).
3. Home owner must submit a written request for reconsideration of current assessment based on “erroneous error” (aka you can’t just say “I don’t think it’s worth what you say it is”)
4. Formal appeal to Board of Equalization (BoE)
5. If you don’t get the results you want from the Board of Equalization, you can go through the court system

• “Assessment notice goes above and beyond what the law requires”
• “Appeal process with assessor’s office is a non-adversarial process”
• BoE is court-appointed home owners living in Loudoun County. 4 members total. Burden is on home owner contesting assessment
• BoE decision is only for that year
• The Loudoun County Assessor’s Office on-line appeal application/review form is easy to complete and submit. Pre-populates the form once parcel ID is entered. You can add up to 3 attachments for supporting documents for appeal (see the bottom of this post for more on supporting documents to make your case stronger)
• To get more information about the Loudoun County assessment appeal/review process and to fill out the form on-line, click here to go to the Loudoun County Assessor’s Office web site.
  

Deadlines for Loudoun County Assessment/Assessed Value Appeals/Reviews

• March 5 - deadline for office review by Loudoun County Assessor’s Office
• June 1 - deadline to file formal appeal to BoE
• December 31 - deadline to file with court

Sample of Questions Asked By Attendees and Answered by Todd, Jennifer and/or Jim

• Question: One Ashburn Farm resident asked how her assessment  is up 21% when her neighbors’ assessments are down.
• Answer: “Could be mistake. Make sure you check the data that the county has on file.”

• Question: How do you account for unfinished/finished basements?
• Answer: “Picking up finished basements is done through the MRIS [the local MLS].”

• Question: Why is the BoE’s decision only good for one year?
• Answer: “Often times, there is a lack of supporting data from the BoE as to their decision so we put the value back at what we think it is the following year. But they’re [BoE] is getting better.”

Personal Observations and Comments

• How the Loudoun County Assessor’s Office treats bank-owned properties and short-sales is completely gray - no clear answer was given as to how nor what formula is used
• Todd said his office goes back through last year’s BoE decisions and takes those into consideration
• The Loudoun County Assessor’s Office has 4 people that do nothing else but collect data for the purpose of assessed values
• County Assessors Office “put sinformation into system to come up with value” (aka they don’t do it themselves nor is it a traditional appraisal - it’s a “mass appraisal”)
• They kept talking about how the assessments are formulated through a “system” yet, they couldn’t define what the “system” was except that it’s been in place for 30 years

Questions I had for the Loudoun County Assessor

1. How many licensed appraisers are conducting assessments and what standards are they held to (USPAP)?
2. How many homes do you actually go inside of, if any?
3. How many homes do you drive by?

I’m still waiting on answers to these questions and will keep you posted if/when I hear back.

If you have specific questions regarding your assessment, you can contact the Loudoun County Assessor’s Office by email, phone or in person….

• Email - assessor@loudoun.gov
• Phone - 703.777.0267
• Leesburg Main Office - 1 Harrison St, S.E. 5th Floor
• Ashburn Satellite Office - 45201 Research Place, Suite 130
• Loudoun County Assessor’s Office web site/home page

In order to make your case stronger when appealing your assessment, contact me to get comps (recent sales of properties that are similar to yours) to submit with your appeal application - danilo.bogdanovic@gmail.com - 703.582.6900.

Loudoun Assessor Speaks About 2009 Assessment Appeal Process

The Loudoun County Assessor, Todd Kaufman, spoke about the 2009 assessment appeal process today at the Dulles Association of Realtors office in Leesburg, VA. The packed "Lunch and Learn" event was catered by Charles Fincher of Monarch Title (thank you Charles).

Here are some of the highlights I took from the presentation:

• Bank-owned properties and short-sales are "not considered" when coming up with assessed values yet, they "are sometimes" - ?!
• The appeal process is meant to "not be adversarial"
• The Loudoun Assessor's Office "welcomes more information about properties in order to get the assessed values correct"
• The Assessor's Office only has 18 appraisers that have to assess all 115,000 properties in Loudoun
• The assessor uses public data to determine assessed values (automated process)
• The goal of the Loudoun Assessor's office is to physically review 25 percent of all properties in Loudoun, but that does not mean going into the property - only seeing it from the outside.
• If you win your appeal with the Board of Equalization (BOE) and your assessment goes down, Loudoun County may take you, the property owner, to court to fight the BOE's ruling. The BOE is out of the loop, but the property owner is now on the hook and takes the heat for the BOE's ruling
• Loudoun Assessor says that his office never has nor ever will refuse to look inside of a property if asked to do so. Only home owners have refused to let Assessor's Office in 
• The online Application for Review Form has come a long way - it's much more user friendly and auto-populates once you enter your property PIN into the form

And here are the five steps to appealing your Loudoun assessment…

1. Review notice of assessment via snail mail or online. The notice will include schedule/steps regarding appeal process
2. Submit an Application for Review Form postmarked no later than March 6 (you can also complete it online). Important: If you choose to appeal the assessed value based on market value, you must have the details of three comparable properties and an opinion of true market value ready to submit along with the Application for Review Form (contact me if you need a list of comparable properties and/or a determination of market value for your property)
3. Written request for consideration on current assessment or previous assessments (up to 3 years) based on an erroneous error
4. Formal appeal to Board of Equalization (BOE). Postmark deadline for appeal consideration by BOE is June 1
5. Formal petition of appeal through Court system

Further Details

The Review Process

• Goal is to provide convenient and uniform review process allowing informal discussions regarding assessments
• Petitioners must address concerns regarding property value and provide empirical evidence why assessment may be incorrect. Burden of proof legally on property owner. Assessment deemed correct unless petitioner illustrates otherwise
• Appeals documented become part of assessement record (aka what you tell the assessor's office becomes public data). Automated Application for Review Form provides non-adversarial platform for public to communicate assessment concerns
• Property owners encouraged to discuss concerns with staff prior to filing formal appeal through BOE or courts

Reconsideration of a Prior Assessment

• Property owner requests correction to property record which may impact assessment for current and prior years
• Example: garage demolished or added several years earlier. May not have been recorded because property owner did apply for permit. Property owner can seek relief from Assessor to correct current assessment and up to three years prior assessments.
• Relief granted if sufficient evidence formally provided in writing substantiating need for change in the assessment

Board of Equalization

• Opportunity to appeal to a local, independent group that may adjust value (current year only)
• BOE has 5 member, court appointed citizens panel. Consider equity and market value. BOE prohibited from making erroneous changes without support or evidence
• Petitioner must provide evidence establishing that assessment is incorrect based on comparable sales or by establishing inequity. Application for appeal must be in writing
• Properties can be adjusted by BOE if error disclosed, even if property owner did not appeal assessment

Court

• Last element in appeal process
• Adversarial process which typically requires petitioner to hire an independent fee appraiser and legal counsel
• Formal appeals such as these are expensive and time consuming for both the property owner and the County