Participation: Local Government

This week's participation assignment was to explore land records within your local government.  Specifically we were asked to focus our research in the property appraisal area.  My local property assessors office part of the revenue department of Baldwin County Alabama.  Here is the web site:  http://baldwincountyal.gov/Government/revenue .  They do utilize mapping, here is the web site for the map:  http://isv.kcsgis.com/al.baldwin_revenue/ .  You can utilize the map to click on parcels that you might be interested and pull up their appraisal information and/or their tax

The first document shows the comparison from the appraised to the assessed values. And the second shows the break out of the assessed value.  The rest of this assignment was to investigate recent property sales for the month of June of the current year to locate the highest property sold.  My local office does not have that information available.  The assessor's office directed me to the probate office who then said I could look at individual deeds that were recorded for a particular day but where not able to provide sales price on a monthly basis. 

I also looked at Collin County Texas appraiser office  https://www.collincountytx.gov/tax_assessor/pages/default.aspx   I have family in this area so I thought I would try to locate information in this area.  I was not able to locate sales information on their site either, but they have an interactive map: https://collin.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=28b784073c47453895a6f69a22bd76e1 . 

I also checked out Maricopa County, AZ assessor: https://mcassessor.maricopa.gov/ .  This is one of the examples given in our overview for this assignment.  I lived in Phoenix, AZ in another lifetime (more than 15 years ago).  They also have an interactive map: https://maps.mcassessor.maricopa.gov/

but after  searching around the assessor's site I was not able to locate any sale information specific to individual properties. 

The second part of the this participation assignment was to create a map of subject properties in West Ridge Place subdivision.  The map has been requested by the local property appraiser to review land value assessments and assist in evaluating any inconsistencies. 

Accounts that could be reviewed for inconsistencies include are all lots that are not at the 27,075 mark (yellow).  The lots that are significantly below should be checked against the subdivision plat to make sure the non-buildable lots are listed as such on the plat (blues and green).  The buildable lots that are slightly below or slightly above should be reviewed for consistencies (yellow-green, red).  Sometimes there are legitimate reasons for the difference in lot price.  The lay of the land may have storm water run off coming across the lot, a utility or drainage easement may limit the buildable area, or a large oak tree left in tact may raise the value of a lot over others.