Despite Foreclosures Property Values Have Not Reduced in Fort Worth
House owners in Fort Worth are not happy that despite the ravage of foreclosures the property values have not been reduced.
One of the critics is Jenny Eaton of north Fort Worth. She tried to put in her objections regarding property tax but because of personal health problems could not pursue the matter. Many foreclosed houses in this area have been sold for prices much below the market rate and this has made her challenge the rate of house tax that is being charged.
Eaton is not alone in her line of thinking and approach. But Jeff Law the executive director of Tarrant Appraisal said that the value of both commercial and residential properties would not see major decreases till 2009; rather they will increase. He added, “We’re always preparing for protests each and every year, whether or not we’re going to see an increase in filings this year we don’t know.”
Law comments that value of property in Tarrant County has remained strong in comparison to other parts of the country. He added, “The appraisal district does not forecast the future; we report and follow value trends from the prior year. If the next year, sales and economic data show a slowing or decrease in values, those will be reflected.”
Data findings by First American CoreLogic show that the prices in the Fort Worth region have gone up by 1% during the past twelve months. It is below the state’s median increase of 2.7% but much above the national fall of 10.4%. Sam Khater, the senior economist of the firm said, “In January 2008, Fort Worth prices were up 3.3% year over year, but by June, price appreciation decelerated to 2.8% and further slowed to 1% as of October.”
Research economist Jim Gaines said that foreclosures are like wild beasts that “could throw a wrench into everything.” He explained that some pockets are more affected by foreclosures than others. It is doubtful if the appraisers will be taking this into consideration in their calculations without the prodding of the taxpayers. Commenting on this Law said that the foreclosures might not be at all taken into consideration while making the appraisals. He said, “Generally, a foreclosure is not an arm’s length transaction – in other words, it was not sold under a normal market transaction. However if there are a large number of foreclosure sale in an area, we recognize that that could have an impact on other arms’ length transactions and we’ll try to acknowledge that.”
Related Posts
