Another Guilford County Real Estate Metric that does not comport with the County's 2012 Real Estate Tax Revaluation

I received this in the mail at a "Property Update Report" from a Realtor D. J. McGarrigan.

This clearly shows Guilford County "Average Cost Per Square Foot" was lower
in December and January 2012, than December and January 2011.

I have asked for and not received this information request from Guilford County:


"Please provide the electronic edition of the instruction manual
of the computer software
used for 2012's Guilford County real estate tax revaluation."

The following is from a "Letter to the Editor" to the Greensboro News & Record
sent on October 15, that the "Editors" appear unwilling to publish.

Of the 12 North Carolina counties that revalued in 2012, 5, including had a NC State "Sales Ratio" as of January 1, 2011 which indicated real estate tax assessments were overvalued.  Real estate prices fell in Guilford County during 2011.  Rutherford County lost about 12% more than their 2011 Sales Ratio values on 1/1/12, Cabarrus County lost about 5.5% more, New Hanover County lost about 3% more, and Cherokee County's values fell 26%.  Guilford was the only North Carolina county in 2012 whose real estate values were supposed to fall by the state's metric that didn't.  

Residential homes now valued at $250,000+ increased in value by an average of $9,981.20.  Guilford County's 2012-13 proposed budget pre-real estate revaluation included a 9.5 cent tax increase, but instead of falling about or more than 3.72% as the 1/1/11 Sales Ratio and house prices during 2011 suggested, Guilford County's values rose 1.5% and tax rates decreased slightly. 

Both Mecklenburg and Guilford Counties used the same revaluation software, and in May, 2012, Mecklenburg moved to "independently" audit their 2011 Real Estate Revaluation after numerous complaints of over valuation.  Those I spoke with who sell the software.said tax directors/counties interpretations of the reval law vary widely, and that all counties don't incorporate the same information, meaning results may vary.  I implore the News & Record to investigate this information before the Editorial Board publishes endorsements for contested commissioners races. 

George Hartzman

I sent this letter to Guilford County Tax Director Ben Chavis, Manager Brenda Jones Fox, Budjet Director Michael Halford, Commissioner's Chairman Skip Alston and all commissioners, edpage@news-record.com, Greensboro News & Record News Editor Jeff Gauger, Editorial Page Editor Allen Johnson, Doug Clark, Publisher Robin Saul, Margaret Banks, Amanda Lehmert, Joe Killian, Richard Barron, Travis Fain, the Rhino's Scott Yost and John Hammer, Triad Business Journal's Mark Sutter and Matt Evans, Phil Berger, Alma Adams, John Blust, Marcus Brandon, Pricey Harrison, John Faircloth, Maggie Jeffus, Don Vaughan, Stan Bingham, and Gladys Robinson.

Guilford County Tax Director Ben Chavis replied with the following:

Ben Chavis Oct 17  

George, 

Mecklenburg used a different software for revaluation from us.   

We do have the same Billing & Collections software as Mecklenburg. 

Ben Chavis
Guilford County Tax Director
336-641-3379

To which I replied and have not received an answer:

Thank you for your response Mr. Chavis; 

Who's software did you use? 

How many other NC counties use the same software? 

Who's software did Meck use? 

Why did residential homes now valued at $250,000+ increased by an average of $9,981.20? 

I have asked the county for the instruction manual of the software you used, and it has not been provided. 

Of all the possible information that could have been included in the revaluation assessment, what was included, what wasn't and why? 

How different is the data used by Guilford County, to the other NC counties that revalued this year? 

Why won't the county detail the home sales that were not included? 

How many distressed home sales were counted for real estate below $250,000, compared to above? 

What variable broad based assumptions are included in the reval software? 

Is the software issue the only issue/fact with which you disagree? 

What data points could have been utilized but were not? 

How did Guilford County go from a 9.5 cent tax increase to a tax decrease?

By the way:

Mr. Hartzman,

Here are the NC counties that currently use the NCPTS software:

Wake
Wayne
Pitt
Harnett
Guilford
Orange
Randolph
Catawba
Mecklenburg
Henderson

Please let me know If you have any questions.

Judy Rhyne
NCACC

The following graph from UNCG's Don Jud looks like the one above.

http://www.uncg.edu/bae/cber/tbi/apr12/index.htm
Sixth Graph Down

This is me explaining this, again.




Our local news outlets and elected officials appear to be unwilling to investigate and/or report news that may directly effect a great deal of Guilford County homeowners.

Amanda Lehmert and Joe Killian have received contact information for the expert who looked into the raw data provided by Guilford County and have chosen to not follow up.

If Guilford County residents vote in commissioner races, while this information remains investigation by our local press, I believe the outcome of the election will have been manipulated by the Rhino Times and the Greensboro News & Record.

Please contact Guilford County, your elected representatives and our unaccountable press for answers.