Property Assessment

The Go-To Organization for Property Assessment Training

Any membership organization that’s been around for more than 80 years must have a winning system for satisfying the needs of its members.  One way that the IAAO achieves this winning system is to re-invent what they offer to members in the way of educational courses and training.  

The annual conference demonstrates the IAAO commitment to educational sessions that attendees can benefit from and put to immediate use in their jurisdictions or organizations.  As the “internationally recognized leader and preeminent source for innovation, education, and research in property appraisal, assessment administration and property tax policy” as the IAAO vision statement reads, that’s no small task.

This year’s conference includes educational sessions that are timely.  How technology is impacting assessment administration, property tax policy reform, changing trends that must be considered in developing property valuations, and evolving technical standards are just a few topic categories for the 81^st conference.

The conference is being held September 13 to September 16 in Indianapolis, Indiana. More details about the 81^st conference, including the educational schedule, can be viewed at http://conference.iaao.org/. 

If you think that this is just a gathering of local assessors and tax administrators reinforcing their own ideas on one another, you would be wrong. The annual IAAO conference is a place where property assessment administration specialists, private industry experts, and academic authorities meet to share best practices, new ideas, lessons learned, and successful practices and methodologies.

This year’s educational session presenters include the following companies and organizations:

Access Valuation, LLC
Almy, Gloudemans, Jacobs & Denne 
American Valuation Group, Inc. 
Appraisal Research Corporation 
Bloom, Sluggett, Morgan Law, PC 
Bose, McKinney & Evans, LLP 
CourtHouseUSA, LLC  
Don R. Scheidt & Co., Inc.  
ESRI  
International Property Tax institute  
Josh Myers Valuation Solutions  
Marshall & Swift  
Marvin F. Poer & Company 
Nexus Group  
Pictometry International Corp.  
Property Valuation Services Corp. of Nova Scotia  
Sunbelt Rentals, Inc.  
Tax Management Associates, Inc.  
TEAM Consulting, LLC  
The Appraisal Foundation 
The TrU Group  
Thomson Reuters  
Tyler Technologies, Inc.  
Walmart Stores, Inc. 

Although the IAAO is an educational organization, its leaders understand that they can’t always provide the range of topics encountered by its members solely with their own offerings. The IAAO listens attentively to and involves academic institutions and organizations.

This year’s educational session presenters include the following academic institutions and organizations:

Indiana University
Lincoln Institute of Land Policy
Marshall University
Oklahoma State University
Riga Technical University, Latvia
University of California, Santa Barbara
University of New Hampshire
University of North Carolina

Through a combination of actions during the last several years the IAAO has focused on international topics that are especially beneficial to those that are improving their property tax assessment systems and setting up new systems in developing countries.

In 2013 the IAAO officially established an International Committee after an ad hoc committee spent several years supporting the mission of IAAO by increasing global awareness of programs, education, and networking opportunities.

In 2014 the IAAO adopted the “Global Guidance on Mass Appraisal and Related Tax Policy.” This guidance document “provides guidance on mass appraisal of real property at market value. The primary focus is on mass appraisal for value-based recurrent property taxes (also known as ‘rates on property’). However, the principles presented here are also relevant to mass appraisal for other governmental and public purposes.” 

This year’s educational sessions include a number of presenters from local assessment jurisdictions and state departments of taxation or revenue from the United States – particularly from Indiana where the conference is being held - but also from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and the World Bank Group. While the number of countries that will be represented by attendees is not known at this time, educational session presenters include people from the following countries:

Canada
China
Granada
Hong Kong
Latvia
Lithuania
Spain
The Netherlands

I began this by saying that the IAAO is successful at re-inventing what they offer to members in the way of educational courses and training. IAAO leaders and staff are continually looking for ways to improve their offerings. The theme of this year’s conference is “Racing Toward Assessment Innovation.” A pre-conference education one-day workshop entitled “Reviewer and Developer's Workshop” will be held both September 12 and 13, 2015. IAAO has developed this workshop to train members who are new to course development or want to sharpen existing skills.

As the IAAO continues to improve its educational courses, workshops, and webinars, I hope you’ll take the opportunity to look closely at how these opportunities can benefit you personally, your jurisdiction, or your company or firm.

Best Online Newsletter for Keeping Informed About Property Taxes

PROBLEM

As a property tax consultant I need a reliable source to keep informed of changes in property tax laws and policies. For the last several years I've found the online newsletter by the National Association of Property Tax Attorneys (NAPTA) to be the best source. Oh I've tried Google Alerts and other sources, but the NAPTA daily Update is the most comprehensive and they've done the hard work for me. 

If you've used Google Alerts you know that it's difficult to tell which country, state, or province the news story is from.  I typically have to take time to follow the link, and even then many writers of news articles assume you know the state where the newspaper is reporting from.  I have to click around the site to the "contact us" webpage before I can identify the location.  But the NAPTA Update is neatly laid out from international issues to state issues in alphabetical order.

SOLUTION

The NAPTA Update newsletter is the best source to keep informed of changes in property tax laws and policies.

Emerging trends, critical issues, and the application of best practices in property taxation are being carried out in real time.  As local government operations property tax assessors don't have competition like the private sector.  But local assessors must track the progress being made by those heading the operations in comparable jurisdictions.  How are they responding to property tax law changes and what new tax policies are being proposed?

We learn from each other. This is critical for big assessment offices as well as small offices.  For example, as property assessors we need to look at the bigger picture to observe minor changes in property valuations.  But if you've been in this field long enough you learn that market indicators are everywhere. 

Property owners, investors, and attorneys who represent them, are all active participants in the markets that property assessors monitor, measure, and report on.  Property tax attorneys are professionals that influence the environment that assessors must operate in.  You have a choice.  You can wish they would just go away or you can embrace them.

According to the NAPTA website: The National Association of Property Tax Attorneys is a nonprofit organization of ad valorem tax and property tax attorneys throughout the United States who are committed to increasing awareness and understanding about property tax issues, educating the public about this specialized area of law and uniting competent tax specialists throughout the United States.

Collaborative Effort to Help Community of Practice in Portland Oregon

 

Those Who Use the Tools are the Best People to Ask Whether They Are Working

If you are in the Greater Portland (Oregon) area we need your help. We've just outlined a contact list for local government departments in the Greater Portland area who are the curators for real estate information most actively used by asset managers, attorneys, corporate tax mangers, homeowners, insurance companies, lenders, potential buyers, real estate agents and brokers, surveyors - you get the picture.

We are asking the community to give us feedback on what's missing, what can be cut out, how it could be better organized - basically, we want to produce a free information product that's designed by the client, not someone deciding what's best for the client.

If you would like to collaborate with us, click here to access the draft PDF document and let us know what you think. You can comment here on our blog or by contacting me through other social media that is shown in my blog profile.  If you reply via Twitter, please use the hashtag #PortlandREInfo.

Once we complete this project, keep the contact list handy so that you don't need to search the web each time you want to find real estate information from local government sources in Greater Portland. They will all be in one spot where you can access them or easily copy and paste them into an e-mail to a potential client.

You will also be able post this resource on your website.  All we'll ask is that you refer to the primary author and his web address as the source.

Are Green Buildings Impacting Your Real Estate Market?

Your Chance to Be Proactive

The Potential Problem

Are you overlooking something that is impacting your local real estate market?  As an appraiser or assessor you need to follow changing trends in the market.  And investors, this could prove to be your competitive advantage from an investment perspective and if you can accurately calculate lower operating costs during the investment holding period.

Start by Developing a Plan

The answer to this question may be yes or no, but you probably need to be adequately monitoring the situation.  For appraisers and assessors, your clients or local citizens, or even journalists, could soon be asking this question and you'll want to be ready for a response.  Investors will want to know if property sellers and competitors are considering green building features, and if they can realistically expect to include the cost of recapturing such features in asking rents.

Resource

An updated version of "The Appraiser's Guide to Identifying Green Building Features in Homes" is available free of charge from The Real Estate Appraisal Research Foundation http://www.appraiserresearch.org/fileadmin/user_upload/green-guide/pdf/Green-Guide-2012-links.pdf.

Formulate the Details

While I haven't read the complete 98 page guide, by scanning it you can get an idea of where green building programs are most popular.  Even a general perusal of the guide will give you an idea of the many green features that homes can have today.  Most importantly you'll formulate ideas on how to monitor the local market. The table of contents, Appraisers' Glossary of Green Building Terms, and general layout make scanning easy.

Your own research could include:

1. Watching rental ads to see what green features are being mentioned (changes in asking rental rates can be one of the earliest signs of changes in a market)

2. Watching listings for sale for the inclusion of green building features

3. Reviewing multiple listing information about sales to see if green building features are included for sold properties

4. Watching for media coverage of green building activities, once you know some of the key terms and phrases

5. Enlisting the help of your social network -

• Ask property managers and owners if potential tenants are asking for green building features
• Ask property managers and owners if they have considered increasing rentals after retrofitting projects that include green building features
• Ask builders if potential buyers are asking for green building features
• Ask real estate professionals if potential buyers are asking for green building features
• Ask real estate professionals if sellers are installing green building features before they offer their property for sale


Action

If local real estate professionals agree that typical buyers and sellers are taking these features into consideration, you should incorporate questions into your sale verification questionnaires to confirm this belief.  Once confirmed comps need to be adjusted for differences in green building features between those of subject property.

Of course if you find that your local real estate market is being impacted by the demand for green building features, you will need to revise your property data collection methods to capture these features.  As appraisers, the final question will be what contribution to value the various green building features have for your subject property. 

As assessors, ultimately you'll need to consider how your valuation models will need to be revised to consider these green building characteristics in assessed valuations.

Conclusion

If you haven't already done so, please take a few precious moments to scan this new publication and plan a strategy for monitoring the potential impact of green buildings on your market area.  Then put it into action by asking a few local real estate professionals what impact, if any, theses green building features area having on your local real estate market.

Resource Guide for Virginia Property Assessors Updated

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wanting to keep current on pending legislation, tax laws, and court decisions concerning real and personal property assessments in Virginia?  Well then this resource is definitely for you.  Attorneys, assessors, tax compliance professionals, and state and local tax managers will want to have all of these resources in one handy location.

I just completed this update and believe it to be a valuable resource for Virginia property assessors.  I would like to see it get as wide a distribution as possible to my assessment friends and colleagues in Virginia. The resource guide was originally developed when I was serving as the city assessor in Manassas Park.  My hope is that other assessors and tax professionals will find it useful and a time-saver as all of the Internet sites related to legislation, tax laws, and court decisions are in one place.

If the property tax is your area of interest please be sure to subscribe to our Property Assessment e-Alerts.  Subscribers get access to subscriber-only publications like our most recent publication “Selected Internet Resources for Property Assessment and Tax Professionals” that lists over 275 unique websites of interest to academics in the field of public administration or tax policy, appraisers, assessors, and tax compliance managers, and tax agents or corporate tax managers.

To access the updated resource guide for Virginia assessors click here.
To subscribe to Property Assessments e-Alerts click here.