How can two lots, of equal size, just a few doors apart on a residential street, be assessed at very different levels?
Clearly, our assessor is not valuing the land first, and treating the existing house as the residual between the total value of the property and the land value -- which is the correct and just way to assess property. Something else is going on.
The properties where this shows up most clearly are both 0.35 acres, at 268 and 288 Stamford Avenue.
- #288 is valued at $555,530; while two doors north,
- #268 is valued at just $360,000.
Similarly, two houses with larger lots, both 0.44 acres, get very different valuations:
- #278 is valued at $369,610, while across the street,
- #279 is valued at $570,700!
My guess is that the land is undervalued for some of the 1976 houses, and that the houses themselves are overvalued. I hope this sort of thing will be corrected in our next revaluation, and that we will revalue no later than October 1, 2009.
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