Wells County property owners will be getting their updated property assessments later this week. These are what we call a “Form 11.” They will be sent on April 25 showing taxpayers what their new assessment will be for the 2024-payable-2025 property taxes.
Values are going up again so if taxpayers don’t understand how we arrive at the new assessment, it’s understandable why you might be frustrated and upset.
I will try to simplify a complicated process.
We start assessments with what it would currently cost to build your house. This is based on your house’s square footage, type of house, how many fixtures, your type of foundation, air conditioning etc. We adjust for effective age, which would change if there are improvements done to the house. Improvements that would change this are: remodeling inside, finishing a basement, adding new windows, roof, siding…etc. Replacing and remodeling add life to your house which is why it changes the effective age. We also adjust for depreciation, based on a state depreciation scale.
We break down areas of the county into neighborhoods. We then take all of the valid sales in that neighborhood and find the Median Sale and adjust each house compared to that Median house. Similar to what an appraiser would do, a slab foundation compared to the basement, do you have more/less bathrooms, bigger/smaller lot, more/less square feet…etc.
We also compare what houses were assessed for in 2023-pay-2024 to what the sale prices were in that neighborhood in 2023. The neighborhood factor is the number it takes to get those houses closer to the 2023 sale prices.
Another issue taxpayers have with their Form 11 is when land jumps in value. First, we don’t change all the land every year. As a general rule we try to keep land value around 20-25% of the total assessment. As assessments rise, that ratio becomes skewed and that is when the land value will jump in value.
One thing I tell taxpayers is to focus on the total assessment. The assessed value is a package deal of the land and all of the buildings on that parcel.
According to UpStar, (which is a research tool provided by the Upstate Alliance of Realtors) in 2023 the Median Sale Price went up 20.6% in Wells County. Allen County went up 7.8%, Huntington County went up 14.4%, and Adams County went down 2.8%.
Sales for your neighborhood are on our Beacon Schneider website. The QR code on your Form 11 will take you to that website. Just scan the QR Code with the camera on your phone, or go to www.beacon.schneidercorp.com
Appeals cost the county money and time, so please don’t appeal just because it went up and you are angry. Investigate your value before you appeal, look at your Property Record Card and the sales on Beacon, compare what you have to the houses that have sold.
Assessments are based on sales. Sales are determined by Realtors, buyers and sellers. Houses are still listing and selling for more than what we have them assessed at even after the increase for 2024-pay-2025. No one would love to see prices and assessments level out or drop more than my office!
Laura Roberts is the Wells County Assessor.
laura.roberts@wellscounty.org
