TAX ASSESSMENTS ARE NOT THE MARKET VALUE An assessment of a property is based on the market value of the property as of July 1st of the pre- vious year. With the changes in our real estate market happening rapidly as they have been, it is a a challenge for the assessment authority to keep up with the accurate values and we are finding that most assess- ments do not reflect market value. A good example of this is let’s say that two identical homes were built side by side on the same size lots. Person A has maintained their home and property and has done around 100K in upgrades over the years, none of which required a permit. Person B has a lot of de- ferred maintenance, no upgrades and hasn’t even mowed the lawn! Both of these assessments may show as exactly the same until one of them sells. As you can well imagine the difference in Market Value would be great. It is virtually impossible for the assessment authority to visit each