North Carolina Law requires that all counties revalue properties for tax purposes, at most, every eight years. Traditionally in our market, counties have done this either on a four-year cycle or an eight-year cycle.
With Durham revaluing properties in 2019, it’s on a three-year cycle, which is really short. They’re doing this because 2018 was incredibly active; there were a lot of areas that saw significant jumps in property values, some that stayed roughly the same, and others that saw decreases.
So what will happen with your property value is, at this point, still a guess. Revaluing properties on a three-year cycle is very fast, so with that in mind, I’d like to discuss the schedule.
Properties were technically revalued as of January 1, 2019. Homeowners will begin receiving their property values in the mail by the end of January. From mid-February to around March 1, homeowners can go to learn about the process and how to appeal it if they disagree with the property value.
In the case of an appeal, Durham wants you to do your research and then submit that information to them when you submit the appeal. The appeal itself must be in no later than May 3, 2019. This is a very important date—if they receive your submission on May 4, they will not acknowledge it. To submit, go online to www.dconc.gov/taxhelp. There, you can go through the process of finding your property, look at the current or revalued tax rate, and see how to find comparable sales.
The most important thing to do, though, is reach out to a Realtor you know and trust; they can help you pull the comparables, review the ones the county is using, and give you their professional opinion of your home’s value. You won’t know your actual tax bill until the middle of 2019 when the county defines its tax rates. They’ll first figure out how much money they need, then they’ll set the rate to figure out their budgets, so even if your tax value goes way up, your actual tax bill may not.
At Real Estate Experts, we are more than happy to help you. Just reach out to us and we can pull the relevant information for you. Hope to hear from you soon!
Click here for a walk through of how to appeal your new tax revaluation!