Foreclosures are high in Ottawa and Kent
There is more bad news. The value of homes in Ottawa County and Kent County of Michigan has dropped last year. Home 
values had also plummeted the previous year. Foreclosures are high in the regions.
This has a good side too. Tax bills on property will also be low. The homeowners will come to know about it only after the assessment notices arrive.
The dipping home values are primarily because of the high foreclosure rate. The economy is still suffering from recession’s fallout. This was revealed by the director of Kent County Equalization.
The biggest fall happened in Lowell. Here values of homes dipped by 11%. This was revealed by preliminary equalization report. Home values also dropped in Grattan Township by 6.3%. In Wyoming, values came down by 6% while in Algoma Township there was a plunge of 5.8% . In Grand Rapids, the drop was by 5.5 per cent.
The city assessor of Grand Rapids, Glen Beekman, says, “Foreclosures continue to have a significant impact. Other sales in the market 
are competing with foreclosure sales and have brought them down as well.”
Still, he feels that the crisis is bottoming out. In 2012, prices may still go down but it will not be a lot. In 2010, prices had gone down by higher prices. There are certain regions where home values went up slightly. These are Cascade and Cannon townships. Of course, the values are less than 1%.
In Courtland, home values went up by 1.5% while in East Grand Rapids, they went up by 2%. A new thing that will happen this year is that the tax bills will be smaller this year.
It may be pointed out here that in ’08 and ’09, homeowners were furious to see tax bills increase despite plunging home values. They stormed into offices of assessors. The State Equalized Value was designed to put a downward pressure on inflation.
Taxes of homes are calculated on the value. If the home value plunges, there is fall in taxes. If assessments are higher, then the bills will increase. There will be a 1.7% hike this year. This is based on the rising inflation of the state.
Experts observe that the situation will improve only when the employment scenario improves. As of now, people do not have the finances to pay the mortgage.
