What is market value and who determines my property value?
Market value is determined by activity in the real estate market and the general economy. The value of your property is based on an analysis of the entire market for a specified period of time before the completion of the revaluation project. Market value is defined as the amount a typical, well-informed purchaser would be willing to pay for a property. For a sale to be a market value (arms- length) sale, the seller and buyer must be unrelated, the buyer must be willing (but not under pressure) to buy, the property must be on the market for a reasonable length of time, the payment must be in cash or its equivalent, and the financing must be typical for that type of property. It is the appraiser's job to research and analyze the values in any particular area or neighborhood. The appraiser has specific guidelines to follow during their research. Some factors that are examined for each property are: location, size, quality of construction, age of improvements, topography, utilities, zoning restrictions, if any, etc.

Show All Answers

1. What is a revaluation?
2. Will a revaluation increase taxes?
3. Will all property values change?
4. How will I know if my assessment is equitable?
5. Does the Assessor's Office have the correct information on my property?
6. Why did my land value change differently than my building value?
7. What is market value and who determines my property value?
8. What is an informal hearing?
9. How do I prepare for a hearing?
10. How will I know if a change was made to my assessment after my hearing?
11. If I disagree with my assessment after a hearing, what are my options?
12. Is the valuation model that Bristol uses a proprietary model?
13. I am seeing a lot of news coming from the real estate industry. Is this being reflected in my new assessment?
14. Are waterfront properties unfairly singled out during a revaluation?
15. What sales did you compare to my home to arrive at my value?
16. What if there hasn't been a recent arms-length sale of my property?
17. What if there are no reasonably comparable sales?
18. I recently built my home. Will the actual construction costs be considered?
19. What will happen to my assessment if I improve my property?
20. Will my assessment go up if I repair my property?
21. How can my assessment change when I haven't done anything to my property?
22. Do all assessments change at the same rate?
23. Nobody inspected the inside of my home, how could you reassess it?
24. I've heard that you develop values by computer. Is that correct?