Assessed value of homes continue to show slow recovery

Following a sharp drop in recent years, the assessed value of homes in Elmore County continued to show signs of recovery over the past year with the value of commercial businesses showing similar signs of stabilizing.

Figures released recently by the Elmore County Assessors Office showed home property values fell by 1.5 percent in 2013, which represents a slower rate of decline since the housing market crash in 2008.

During the county's assessment in 2013, property values had fallen by less than a half percent compared to a 5 percent drop the year prior.

Those figures are based on an annual appraisal conducted by the assessor's office of residential and commercial properties across the county. Different properties in the county, including Mountain Home, Glenns Ferry, Featherville and Mayfield, were assessed within their respective zones during the annual review, which covered a period that ended last December.

The county is mandated by state law to appraise properties each year at 100 percent of market value as of Jan. 1, said Elmore County Assessor Ron Fisher. The state tax commission then compares the county's appraised values against the reported sale prices of residential and commercial properties to ensure the county's estimates are within 10 percent of the market values.

Meanwhile, a separate study conducted by the state tax commission looks at the value of the county's "operating properties" like utility systems as well as rail and phone lines.

When the local housing market collapsed in recent years, the county used a "blanket decrease" in which the assessed values fell at the same rate across the county. However, officials saw a significant difference in property values between communities during its assessment in 2013, according to Fisher.

This prompted the county assessor's office to adjust property values based on their location in the county versus a one-size-fits-all approach.

Fisher said the method used this year was more fair to property owners in areas of the county where sales had started to stabilize. It also took into account that newer homes tended to yield better prices on the housing market versus older ones.

"The values haven't started increasing yet," Fisher warned regarding overall property values across the county.

However, the county is seeing things continuing to stabilize, in part, because the number of "long-arm" sales are starting to fall, Fisher added. This refers to homes that either fell into foreclosure or sold well below their estimated market value.

In 2013, nearly 40 percent of home sales in the county fell into this "distressed" category. The year prior, that number stood at 52 percent.

While older homes were still selling well below their appraised value, the outlook on newer homes looked more promising, Fisher said.

"The appraisals are starting to match the asking price" of some homes sold in the past year, according to Fisher.

In some cases, newer houses actually sold at significantly higher prices, which is good news for those wanting to sell, he added. In one instance, an owner "upside down" on their mortgage was able to make up a $20,000 deficit in the home's value when it sold.

Being able to sell a home at a specific price primarily depends on who is willing to buy the home and what they're willing to pay, Fisher emphasized.

During the county's recent evaluation, the median value of vacant lots in residential areas across the county were assessed about 15 percent below the actual market value. Areas seeing the biggest difference included residential lots in Glenns Ferry and the Pine-Featherville area.

Because the assessment fell outside of the 10 percent tolerance allowed by the state, the county assessors office made some adjustments to selected property assessments to make it more equitable for those whose properties were actually selling at closer to the actual market value.

As homeowners saw some relief during the county's latest property assessment, commercial and business property values showed signs of improvement. Overall, commercial values were rated at 107 percent, or just slightly above the actual market rates.

County officials don't anticipate making any adjustments to those figures since Fisher anticipates that those market values will continue to rise.

Data collected during this year's assessment was a noticeable change compared to recent years in which commercial land values saw little change, include those in Mountain Home and Glenns Ferry.

Outside of those cities, those same values had fallen by as much as 15 percent during the assessment conducted in 2013.

Typically, changes in a property's assessed value changed -- either an increase or decrease -- all comes down to their location, according to Fisher. Properties located in areas with a higher number of "distressed" transactions tended to see a greater change than those located in more market-stable areas.

This year's assessment comes as local residents continue to deal with damage to their homes and property following the Elk and Pony Complex fires. After both range fires swept across the northern half of the region last summer, the county took action to bring some relief to those whose homes and land were damaged or destroyed by those fires.

Affected owners had their property taxes pro-rated, meaning they received a waiver from paying those taxes from the date those fires began.

As county officials look ahead to the next property assessment, changes to the state tax code in 2013 are not expected to have any impact on local property values, Fisher said.

State legislators eliminated a portion of the revenue collected in personal property tax from commercial property owners. The law provided an exemption for businesses with less than $100,000 in taxable property.

The state has replacement money in its budget to compensate for revenue the counties expect to lose due to these changes in the state's personal property taxes, according to Fisher.

"The county should be all right in as far as budgeting goes," he said. "We will receive the amount that was exempted this year and on into the future."

Currently, counties across the state are still working to tie up the loose ends associated with those changes to the state's personal property tax exemptions.

"There's still a little bit of ambiguity on some items... but it's been resolved in the short term," Fisher said.