I got my property tax assessment from Fairfax County today, and was real surprised to see the assessment go down! After 6 years of giant increases, finally a [slight] drop. I guess the market is really doing that bad around here? Or is the county trying to be more reasonable instead of taxing people to death? Just sorta curious, did this decrease happen to most county residents?

My 2007 assessment is approximately 4% lower than my 2006 assessment.

From the Post on Tuesday

Fairfax Assessments
Tuesday, February 27, 2007; Page A09

· Average value of residential property: down 0.33 percent.

· Average yearly real estate tax bill: $4,830, down $16.

· Tax rate: $89 cents for each $100 of assessed value. No change.

· Average value of a single-family home: $635,566, down 0.43 percent.

· Commercial property assessed value: up 13.57 percent.


Average assessed value of residential property, by area of county:

Area 2006 average 2007 average % change
Alexandria $452,034 $457,498 + 1.21 %
Annandale $474,299 $469,457 - 1.02
Burke $463,818 $462,352 - 0.32
Centreville $434,123 $434,492 + 0.08
Chantilly $501,767 $497,989 - 0.75
Clifton $681,726 $685,221 + 0.51
Fairfax $502,643 $493,509 - 1.82
Fairfax Station $767,937 $744,481 - 3.05
Falls Church $450,143 $447,891 - 0.50
Great Falls $1,101, 518 $1,113,961 + 1.13
Herndon $505,671 $497,492 - 1.62
Lorton $408,594 $419,178 + 2.59
McLean $815,790 $827,455 + 1.43
Oakton $718,971 $715,958 - 0.42
Reston $445,952 $433,864 - 2.71
Springfield $455,105 $453,455 - 0.36
Vienna $635,971 $629,721 - 0.98


Source: Fairfax County Department of Tax Administration

Mine went up just slightly (Herndon) but two of my friends (Sterling and Fairfax) said theirs went down as well. From Fairfax's website:

The market transition during 2006 has resulted in a slight decrease in residential property values due to equalization as of January 1, 2007. In total, these residential assessments declined by -0.33%. This of course does not mean that everyone’s assessment declined by this percentage. The actual change to your property value, if any, depends on many factors along with the relationship of your property to the sale of similar properties. Overall, the -0.33% is a blended average between properties that had increases, decreases or no change in value.

Approximately 42% of residential properties had assessment decreases in 2007 due to equalization (or appreciation changes), and another 24% had no change from the prior year. Though fairly moderate, some price appreciation did still occur in 2006, and the assessment changes for these properties were much more moderate than in prior years. Almost 90% of residential properties that experienced a slight rise in assessments in 2007 had a value increase of less than 10%. Again, this reflects fairly stable prices in 2006.

These are simply gross averages and may not reflect the assessment change within your specific neighborhood. DTA will continue to monitor market sales throughout 2007 and will reflect these in the 2008 assessments.

Oh this reminds me of an issue I was talking to my friend about earlier... Based on his assessment, his ~2000 sq feet of property (townhome) in 22030 is valued at approx $64/sq foot. My ~9500 sq feet of property (single family) in 20170 is valued at approx $16/sq foot. I find it hard to believe that simple location (both are not within walking distance to anything) would account for this 4x difference in property values. Are the assessments taking something into account that I'm missing? Are developers and the county in bed with each other, artificially hiking up the values of small townhouse parcels to generate additional taxes? My property is on a cul-de-sac, backs a park, and is in a good neighborhood so I can't see why the land is worth so much less than a postage-stamp sized parcel.

Down ~20k here.

Here's the Post article on it - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/26/AR2007022600898.html

Notice the second page says -->

The county also faces at least two other issues that could result in major new financial challenges over the next year. Under the Republican-backed transportation package approved Saturday by the General Assembly, Fairfax County would be required to pay for the planning and construction of roads, a responsibility currently borne by the state.

Connolly denounced the provision yesterday as a "poison pill," and he called for its removal from the legislation. The board voted to ask Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) to veto the package if the new road obligations remained.

The county also faces the potential loss of $17 million in schools funding because of a dispute with the U.S. Department of Education over reading tests given to thousands of immigrant children.

I read the article a couple of times. Did they maintain the tax rate at .89 or did it go up?
I read the flyer that was in my tax bill but it kept saying how well run the county is and they want to maintain that, which I took to mean they were going to raise the actual rate.

Mine is up a little under 4%. Under reasons for change it says "reassessment" and "property description update". Any ideas on what the second one means?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/28/2007 07:22PM by pgens.

No idea. Mine only says reassessment. Any help from the flyers they put in the enveolpe?
Were there any imporvements to the house like adding a bathroom?

Nope. The other houses on my street went up too so I wasn't the only one.

Mine went down like 20%! Last year it went up by pretty much the same amount, so I guess we're even after all. One well over the market sale in 2005 must have screwed up the whole neighbourhood.

"I read the article a couple of times. Did they maintain the tax rate at .89 or did it go up?
I read the flyer that was in my tax bill but it kept saying how well run the county is and they want to maintain that, which I took to mean they were going to raise the actual rate."

The Ffx Co. Board doesn't set the new tax rate until they adopt the budget; I believe that will be on April 30th. I do not get the feeling they will raise it, but I don't see it going down.

I forgot...the county executive has proposed to leave the current rate as-is. I don't see any board members pushing to raise it in an election year...

-8.8% here @ -$71k. Too bad for my neighbors who have been trying to sell for the past 4 mo. -§

What do you think of this BS?

Last September, I bought a rental property that had a 2006 assessment of 438K
I paid 425K for the house....13 grand below the assessment.

The 2007 assessment is for 430K....down 8 grand, but still 5 grand above what I paid for the house less than 6 months ago.

Should I appeal?

The assessment normally comes below what you could sell it for. This year I don't know... the assessment is coming up higher than I think I could get for mine.

You could appeal, but on what grounds will you do it? I think proving to the point of getting a change is very difficult.

My Centreville assessment went up 6.5%, bringing my assessed value to more than what I could sell for right now, but less than the last comparable home sale in my neighborhood 6 months ago. I know it is less than what I could get now based on asking prices of neighborhood homes currently on the market.

Did anyone else have 'Pest Infestation' in the upper right-hand corner of their assessment after 'Other Tax Districts:'? I called DTA and they explained it was for gypsy moth spraying and that everyone received it on their assessments, but one person I checked with did not remember seeing it.

I believe you can contest the appraisal...if you think it's unfair you should do so.

'Pest Infestation'

I was wondering what the heck that was, it was on mine too.

One of my neighbors did a research:

"I called the Department of Tax Administration (703-222-8234). The representative explained that this has been documented like this for several years. For additional information, I was transferred to the Department of Public Works – Forest Pest Section (703-324-5304). The representative thoroughly explained the concern of gypsy moth infestation in certain areas of Fairfax County. As a yearly gypsy moth egg mass survey is completed (August – October), Our area has NOT been found to be an area of concern – due to low gypsy egg masses or no gypsy egg mass within a certain surveyed area. I was also directed to a web-site for more helpful information: http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dpwes/environmental/pests.htm. To cover yearly gypsy egg mass monitoring, the “Pest Infestation” information must be printed on certain real estate tax documents. Hopefully this is helpful to those new to Fairfax County and/or to those who never knew what this meant. Have a great day!"

Thanks for that helpful information, Price. I checked out the website, which showed photos of gypsy moth egg masses and sure enough, we had some of them on bricks in our garden last year. Good that the county is on top of these things.

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