New Assessment: The Value Dropped Nearly 14 Percent (Yaaaaaay!)

Here's one for those of you grumbling about taxes. Roanoke City has dropped my home's assessment by a smidge under 14 percent beginning in June. The small house in Northwest Roanoke was most recently assessed at $116,000 and change, but in August, I paid $109,000 for it after it had sat on the market for 18 months with no takers.

I asked the assessor for the city to take a look and see what the assessment should be and the department complied quickly, sending out two smart young kids to look it over and take their impressions back home. I mentioned what I had paid for the house and that I had put in a new heating system (with a complete insulation re-do) and did a lot of work on de-watering the basement. My guess was that the assessment would be about the same because of the work.

It wasn't. The property value remained the same, but the value of the house itself dropped $17,000 and I can tell you that I don't mind one bit because I have no plans to sell. That's a modest saving of $200 a year, but it certainly beats a tax increase.

(Graphic: activerain.com)