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Home Owners FAQ |
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We are Here for You! |
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The following are a list of Commonly Asked Questions.
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Everything I read and hear in the news media tells me housing values have dropped over the past year so why hasn’t my assessment dropped?
Everything I read and hear in the news
media tells me housing values have
dropped over the past year so why
hasn’t my assessment dropped?
In Wisconsin, we’ve been fortunate that our
property values are weathering the market
relativity well compared to many other areas of
the country. While the news media portrays
values as dropping, it speaks to an overall trend
in some areas and doesn’t take into account a
specific neighborhood or specific properties. In
actuality, some communities, and some
neighborhoods, have seen values increase;
many neighborhoods are experiencing fewer
sales yet values remain relatively stable; and a
few neighborhoods have experienced
foreclosures and short sales that have driven
market values lower. It’s the latter
neighborhoods that capture news media
attention.
If your municipality happens to be conducting a
revaluation this year, then your assessment will
reflect the most probable market value. A
revaluation sets all properties at market value as
of Jan 1 and establishes the relationships of one
property to another. Those relationships remain
until the next revaluation. If your community is
not conducting a revaluation this year, then your
assessment will likely not be adjusted if the only
change occurring is the same market adjustment
that the rest of the community is experiencing.
Just as your assessment didn’t go up each year
when property values where rapidly increasing,
your assessment will not be adjusted downward
just because values are declining. The reason
for this is twofold. If all values are going up or all
values are going down, it doesn’t change the
relationship of one property to another and
therefore doesn’t change the tax bill.
Secondly, in order to contain costs, most
municipalities do not perform a revaluation every
year. It is the revaluation process that adjusts
everybody’s value to reflect those properties
which have sold.
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Hurley, WI
