CHARLOTTE — Mecklenburg County homeowners are bracing themselves for sticker shock -- home revaluations are going out overnight and will hit mailboxes as early as this weekend.
Home values have been trending up for years. Since the last revaluation in 2019, residential home values are up 59% in Mecklenburg County, so that’s a good indicator of what you can expect to see.
Channel 9′s Madison Carter spoke with the county assessor about their process and what homeowners can do to fight the figures.
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Homeowners in every corner of Mecklenburg County can expect to see their home values increase.
Allan Reich is a real estate appraiser.
“An increase in value is not necessarily a bad thing, but you want to make sure it’s accurate,” he said.
Reich said values going up can be good for the economy, but scary for property owners.
“Tax values increasing represents your property in Charlotte improving. That’s what most owners want to see,” he said. “The flipside of that is paying taxes on that real estate.”
Reich said in his experience, estimates have been fairly spot-on from county appraisers.
“Since 2014, we have visited every property in Mecklenburg County,” county assessor Ken Joyner told Carter.
Joyner assembled a team that went door to door over the past four years to the 3,200 neighborhoods that make up Mecklenburg County.
“We’re going to take that neighborhood and all of those sales and use those sales to value that entire neighborhood,” Joyner explained.
A housing study released by UNC Charlotte shows less than 4% of the houses sold in the Charlotte region are under $150,000. The median sale is $434,000, which is the figure that assessors are using to value neighborhoods.
“You want to make sure it’s accurate and reliable because it’s likely going to be in place until the next tax revaluation,” Reich said.
The county is expecting appeals, but says most disputes can be resolved without the help of an attorney or appraiser.
“There can be things as simple as just correcting that property record card that can get that value to where it needs to be,” Joyner said.
If you are looking for help paying your property taxes and your value is correct, you’ll want to direct your efforts toward state, city, and county programs that offer relief to people with fixed or low income thresholds. Click here to learn about what Mecklenburg County offers.
If you’re really anxious about that new assessment, you don’t have to sit by the mailbox. You can access your new value on Friday online. They’ll be posted no later than 6 a.m.
If you feel your home was inaccurately revalued, Reich’s firm disputes property evaluations. Click here to learn more.
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