Tax Assessor Chief Appraiser Dan Rollf went before the Bryan County Board of Commissioners Tuesday to discuss his findings with the 2008 Tax Digest and answer questions.So far this year, Rollf said in the first half of 2008, they’ve recorded 250 fair market sales. Of those, 80 were sold below the appraised values at an average of $15,000 while the other 170 sold at an average of $40,000 above their values, Rollf said.“We’re running very close to what we’ve been looking at this whole year in terms of values,” Rollf said. “But what I’m talking about and what the public is looking at are different. I’m looking at how close the sales are to the values we’re carrying in our system, which were established in 2006. Technically, you could see a little bit of an increase for property values over tax values for next year.”Rollf said he’s not sure what will happen during the remained of 2008 and “fuel prices could change everything.”Jones was optimistic, noting that the national downturn in real estate “doesn’t really exist in Bryan County.”“We’re not seeing a huge drop in the prices of real estate,” Jones said, but he did note it’s been taking two to three times longer for homes on the market to sell. “The majority is selling above the county’s assessed values. That means one of two things: Either there is no downturn, or the county’s values are too low…It’s important to do the revaluation because we need to stay in line with the marketplace.”
Tax Assessor: Local real estate market not showing effects of housing slump
