Hands On The Heartland
Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market 

Do you think the county has incorrectly assessed the value of your home? Well you’re probably right because it’s impossible for the county to truly know the value of your home. Unless your home just closed yesterday and the county did your tax reappraisal today, assessing the value of a property is going to be subjective. The more time that passes after a property has sold, the more likely it is that the tax assessed value is wrong.

So just about everyone can make the argument that their county tax appraised value is inaccurate. If you believe the county has over-valued your home then you could be paying too much in property taxes. If you believe the assessed value is too low you’re probably not going to complain because you would be enjoying lower taxes. Though keep in mind that many a buyer and buyer’s agent have attempted the (very weak) negotiating tactic of implying that a home’s sales price should be reflective of the county’s assessed value of the property.  That tactic is ridiculous for the reasons I’m about to mention.

Johnson County Kansas Real Estate Appraisals

There are many ways that a county tax appraisal can be called into question and, for starters, consider that the county doesn’t have a clue whether a home has granite  countertops or cardboard countertops. Seriously, the county appraiser doesn’t come into your home and they don’t want to risk getting shot while peaking in your windows to find out. This detail alone could make a difference of many thousands of dollars to a home’s value.  How about the county appraisers inability to factor in whether a home is updated, outdated, or needing fumigated? The county just doesn’t know those details or whether you have brand new carpet or that blue carpet from the late 1980’s – was that really in style then?   Another big ticket item that is often misstated in the county’s assessment is whether a home has a finished lower level (basement). Discrepancies such as these can create obvious problems with a home’s appraised value. 

In Johnson County Kansas, the appraiser is required to revisit each property at least once every six years. Do you think a lot could change in the years in between? Room additions and the general condition of the property quickly come to mind. Even in the year’s the appraiser DOES visit the property, the appraiser is unable to take the interior of a home into consideration (because they don’t see it). The county appraiser will attempt to reverify the dimensions of a home by measuring the home’s perimeter, but that won’t accurately indicate a home’s true square footage. This is especially true on two-story homes where the area over the garage on one home may have several hundred square feet of finished area while the next home may have none. Again, the county appraiser can not determine factors such as this because they don’t go inside the home.      

Because of the costs that would be involved, it’s not practical to argue that the county should visit each home every year or attempt to schedule appointments to view the inside of each home.  That’s simply not going to happen and the system we have will have to do. Since it has it’s obvious flaws, the county allows for property owners to appeal their taxes. If you believe the assessed value of your home is way off base then you can read up on the appeals process at the Johnson County Kansas Appraiser’s Office or here at the Jackson County Missouri Appraiser’s Office.

Posted by Jason A. Brown

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