Auburn 2018 Cyclical Revaluation Manual
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Auburn 2018 Cyclical Revaluation Manual - Part 1 (Sections 1 through 9b)
Auburn 2018 Cyclical Revaluation Manual - Part 2 (Sections 9c and 10)
The purpose of this report is to document the guidelines, standards and procedures used in the recent town wide revaluation. The building cost data and the specific building and land information of each property, which is the foundation for this report and the valuation, were gathered and/or verified by the assessing staff of Avitar Associates of N.E., Inc., all qualified to do so and approved by the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration, Property Appraisal Division. See Section 1. C. Personnel & Qualifications Sources may include local builders and developers, as well as the use of cost manuals such as the Marshall & Swift Manual.
Avitar uses a data collection form (DCF) to facilitate the listing and pricing of buildings which will insure uniformity and accuracy in the collection of data and use of the CAMA system, this information, once entered, is used to generate the “Property Record Card”. See Section 1.D. Data Collection.
It should be kept in mind that nothing can replace common sense and experience. While this report is a guide to information about the revaluation and the resulting assessments, one needs to keep in mind that an assessment is an opinion of value based on information contained herein and the knowledge and experience of the assessor. This is simply a guideline.
An appraisal is an estimate of value at a point in time. Value is a moving target based on the actions of the market (buyers and sellers) and what they are willing to pay and accept for any individual property. As such, the assessment as of April 1st, (the assessment date for the State of New Hampshire), is not a fact, but rather an opinion of value based on all the local sales data and the social and economic forces observed in the community and represents a “reasonable” assessment that, while likely never matching another assessors opinion of value, should be reasonably close, assuming each opinion of value is factual and accurately established, generally meaning +/- about 10%.
There is no area of appraising where this judgement of value becomes more evident than in the valuation of land and its amenities, such as view, waterfront and neighborhood/location.
Land values are local. They cannot be compared to values of similar properties in other localities with any known accuracy. This suggests that the most valuable tool in arriving at a judgement of land value is going to be the local market. For any land valuation method to work, it must be based on the local market sales, as the social and economic values and condition of each community is different.
Adjustments for topography, shape and cost to develop vary greatly, as each property is unique. However, a review or comparison of these properties will show a relationship exists between the adjustment and severity of topography, shape and site development costs, based on the opinion of the revaluation supervisor and local sales data.
The contributory value of views, while based on sales data, also varies widely as do the views. The relationship with the added value based on sales having views, compared to other property in town with views is shown by the View Sample Pictures (Section 10.). This section assists in the application of adjustment for views, as well as shows consistency in the process. However, sales data never accounts for every variation of view or value adding feature or deduction, for that matter, that the job supervisor may come across in any given town. As such, experience and knowledge of the local sales must be used to assess these unique properties and make adjustments for the severity of the feature affecting value in his or her opinion and then consistently apply that condition.
Intended Use of Report
The intended use of the report is to be a tool for local assessing officials to understand how the assessments were developed. To help them feel comfortable that the values are well founded and equitable, as well as help in the future assessment of new homes and maintenance of property values.
It is not intended to make the reader an assessor, but rather help the reader understand the process. It is intended to document the facts, assumptions and data used for their review and use in understanding and explaining the revaluation process.
The use of this report is to present the foundation of the recent revaluation and the process and procedures used to develop the assessed values for all property in town.
Intended Users of Report
Intended users include, local assessing officials and real estate appraisers and other assessors.
It may also be used by the public on a more general level to understand the process, facts and methods used to estimate values.
What This Report is Not Intended to Do
It is not intended to answer all possible questions, but rather to document the revaluation in general terms and enable the local assessor to answer more detailed questions which may not be readily apparent to the average property owner.