Realtors & Appraisers Say County Numbers Don't Add Up

Our phones and inboxes have flooded with people stunned by Hamilton County's assessment of their homes. In this recession, homeowners are floored the County would elevate their homes value.

    We contacted multiple sources to sift through this confusion. Realtors tell us Hamilton County hasn't seen the highs and lows of real estate, but homeowners are now paying the spike for good times three out of the last four years.

   However, appraisers and real estate agents say the County's numbers don't add up.

   An almost $37,000 jump happened on an Apison house in Bentwood Estates. In East Lake, John Appling saw an almost $27,000  jump on his house. To him, it makes no sense.

    Appling said, "I'm appealing this, this is ridiculous. I hope everybody in Chattanooga and Hamilton County appeals it. I've made no improvements since 2003 and they're going up 27 thousand. Real estate values have gone down, no sir."

So how do you explain this? The Assessor's Office does drive-by estimations on homes. And it uses home sales prices from the last four years to establish the appraisal.

   We went to the Chattanooga Association of Realtors to get a gauge on prices. That group says the median home price in Hamilton County jumped from $132,000 in 2004 to $151,000 last year.

Chris Sexton says Hamilton County saw good times in real estate. Sexton said, "2006 was number one, 2005 was number two, 2007 was our third best year in real estate."

    That said, Sexton says several realtors called him and could not believe the appraisals the assessor's office was making. Realtor Wendi Stott says the County's numbers are inflated over the real world. Stott said, "Appraisals are not coming in as high a lot of time on some of the larger end homes."

   We asked property assessor Bill Bennett if he thought this year would have more challenges than those in years past? Bennett said, "We may have, we may have. We're expecting probably to have more."

   We asked Apison homeowner Ed Campbell if he would appeal, "I tried it before and it didn't do no good."

Campbell says a real estate neighbor told him prices are dropping, in sharp contrast to his almost $37,000 spike.

"I know for a fact houses are dropping. I think my house dropped almost that much in this past year," Campbell said.  He added, "I'm questioning the validity of what they're doing and how they're justifying this increase. That's what's bothering me."

   Aplling couldn't fathom the huge jump on his East Lake home either. "I'm a little bit hot about their tax assessment, if they had gone up four or five thousand dollars, you'd never heard a word out of me."

    Property Assessor Bill Bennett says he believes the tax RATE will be lowered. Whether your tax is more or less will depend on how much above or below the average your assessment is. Again, you have until the 30th for the first challenge.

   In closing, one real estate agent says even in good times, Hamilton County usually doesn't see more than a three percent home price increase.