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 County Assessment Notices To Be Mailed First Week Of February

According to a press release from Todd Kaufman, Loudoun County Assessor, 2008 assessments will be mailed to Loudoun County property owners in the first week of February. The press release seems pretty standard as you begin to read it, but then it gets interesting.

Here’s one excerpt that caught my attention:

"The Code of Virginia and local ordinances require that assessments be made annually at fair market value. "It is important to understand that assessments are not influenced by the budget or tax rate.  Assessments are market driven.  The creation of the budget and the setting of the tax rate are independent from the assessment process," said Kaufman. "The budget is proposed by the County Administrator and approved by the Board of Supervisors.  The Board also sets the tax rate.  Assessments are the County Assessor’s opinion of the value of a jurisdiction’s real property portfolio as of January 1.  Real property tax levies are the result of the application of the tax rate on the real property assessment.  The Board sets the real property tax rate following a process which includes a public hearing and a series of work sessions."

Here’s the other:

"In order to better serve the public, the Office of the County Assessor has recently opened a satellite office in Ashburn. The office is open to the public Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.  The satellite office is located at 45201 Research Place, Suite 130, Ashburn, VA 20147."

That statement and the recently opened office makes me wonder… We’ll see what property owners think and how they react when they get their assessments in the next week or two.

D

The Discrepancy Between Loudoun County Tax Assessments and Fair Market Value.

Everyone knows that Loudoun County real estate property values have gone down significantly over the last several years, including 2007. For everyone’s sake, I hope that the Loudoun County Tax Assessor realizes this as well when computing 2008 tax assessments. Everyone we’ve talked to in Loudoun County is upset about their assessed value and most are worried that their 2008 tax assessments will not be in line with their fair market value. The people who are even more upset are those who appealed their tax assessments earlier this year and were completely shot down without a good, if any explanation.

Yes, they’re upset because they’ve lost market value. But why are they really upset? Because 2007 assessed values are up to 30 percent higher than current market values (non-foreclosures or short-sales) and they think that the Tax Assessor doesn’t care. That means that Loudoun County residents are paying up to 30 percent more in taxes than they should.

For example, the property located at 904 Amelia Street in Sterling, VA just sold for $276,450 net. It was assessed at $392,200. That’s a $115,750 (30 percent) discrepancy between assessed and market value.

In the FAQ section of the Loudoun County Tax Assessor’s web site, it states:

"Information is gathered from buyers, sellers, and real estate professionals. The bonafide selling prices are then compared to the assessed values to arrive at an assessment/sales ratio. The county is required by law to assess at 100% of fair market value."

Neither myself nor any consumer, real estate agent or broker I have run across has been contacted by the Loudoun County Tax Assessor regarding their opinion, expertise, stats or data regarding Loudoun County real estate market values.

This discussion brings to a poll we’d like for you, the consumer and real estate professional, to take. Though values vary by specific community, this will give us, you and the Loudoun County Tax Assessor a general idea of what the residents of Loudoun County think about market versus assessed values for 2008.

Related Articles:

Loudoun County Set To Steal $45 Million From Residents In 2008

*This post was edited 12/29/07 because it was brought to our attention that part of the post could be misinterpreted and those items have been deleted.