Tax appeal.
That was the top story today in the Mohave Daily News. This story was nothing new, really.
They quoted Ron Nicholson (County Assessor) a few times basically saying he is just part of the system, and inviting people to appeal their taxes. The system, by the way, is crazy-complicated and makes for wild swings in property taxes.
I’ve covered the topic of lowering Mohave County property taxes before, so my point today is to remind everyone that the notices of value will be arriving very soon. This is the first step to lowering your property taxes, but you have to act quickly. Let me repeat:
You have to act quickly if you want to lower your property taxes.
The bottom line is this. Your property taxes for 2011 will be based on the assessed value on the card you receive in February. As I said before, the system is complicated, but your property taxes are ultimately influenced by the assessed valuation.
The deadline to appeal your assessed valuation is April 6, 2010. That means you’ll have 2 months or less, depending on what day you get your card, to appeal the valuation if you feel it’s too high.
Here are the two important points that I wanted to share with you today:
Be on the lookout for your Notice of Value in February
The deadline to appeal the Mohave County Assessor’s value is April 6, 2010
I’ll post some info on this after the notices hit, including my usual offer to help with comparable sales. In the meanwhile, hit that link above to learn more than ever wanted to know about how the process works, get sample forms, see exciting links, and so on.
Here is a direct link the Mohave County Assessor page on the topic of appealing assessed valuations to lower your property taxes
Oh, by the way, lots of people contact me every year after they get their actual tax bill asking about getting it lowered. Don’t be that guy! Watch your mailbox and mark your calendar. Give me a shout if you need some help.
Bullhead City, Fort Mohave, and Mohave Valley home sales stats for December, 2009.
Includes all residential property types (Single Family Homes, Manufactured Homes, Condominiums) reported to the Western Arizona REALTOR Data Exchange. No commercial property or vacant land.
Bullhead City has strongest December in 3 years
Home sales shot up in Bullhead City by a whopping 66% over last year’s tally with 78 homes sold in December compared to 47 homes last year.
Still, the most notable thing is not the year-over-year increase in home sales. More notable is that, unlike most years, December ‘09 was one of the biggest months of the year.
Another interesting detail is that the median price was only off by about 6% from the year before. I don’t put a whole lot of stock in averages or medians (and neither should you), but here’s a bottom line you can’t argue with:
Although the median price went down by 6%, the huge uptick in sales netted a 94% increase in volume. And this in what is supposed to be one of the slowest months of the year.
The stats:
Monthly Home Sales Comparison – Bullhead City, Arizona
|
December 2009 |
November 2009 |
December 2008 |
| Units Sold |
78 |
71 |
47 |
| Dollar Volume |
$10,502,800 |
$8,691,815 |
$5,419,750 |
| Average Price |
$134,651 |
$122,420 |
$115,314 |
| Median Price |
$98,500 |
$103,000 |
$105,000 |
Year-to-Date Home Sales Comparison – Bullhead City
|
|
|
|
2009 |
2008 |
| Units Sold |
812 |
607 |
| Dollar Volume |
$115,461,518 |
$105,440,366 |
Fort Mohave has strongest December in 5 years
You’ve got to take a close look at Fort Mohave. Not only have sales picked up, but there are now less than 200 homes for sale. Their 6.5 month supply makes it a balanced market – not a buyer’s market, not a seller’s market.
How about this? The supply of homes under $175,000 is actually only 4.5 months. That’s seller’s market territory.
The stats:
Monthly Home Sales Comparison – Fort Mohave, Arizona
|
December 2009 |
November 2009 |
December 2008 |
| Units Sold |
37 |
28 |
16 |
| Dollar Volume |
$4,744,570 |
$3,207,100 |
$2,533,700 |
| Average Price |
$128,232 |
$114,539 |
$158,356 |
| Median Price |
$125,000 |
$112,250 |
$147,450 |
Year-to-Date Home Sales Comparison – Fort Mohave
|
2009 |
2008 |
| Units Sold |
353 |
258 |
| Dollar Volume |
$45,131,618 |
$43,868,565 |
Mohave Valley has strongest December in 5 years
Rounding out the field, Mohave Valley also a strong December. Much like Bullhead City and Fort Mohave, the median price was down year-over-year, but units and volume were up.
The stats:
Monthly Home Sales Comparison – Mohave Valley, Arizona
|
December 2009 |
November 2009 |
December 2008 |
| Units Sold |
14 |
9 |
7 |
| Dollar Volume |
$1,270,200 |
$853,500 |
$899,877 |
| Average Price |
$90,729 |
$94,833 |
$128,554 |
| Median Price |
$74,600 |
$102,300 |
$83,000 |
Year-to-Date Home Sales Comparison – Mohave Valley
|
2009 |
2008 |
| Units Sold |
165 |
102 |
| Dollar Volume |
$21,622,286 |
$21,667,847 |
Source: Western Arizona REALTOR® Data Exchange
The year finished with a bang indeed, with inventory levels approaching that of a balanced market. Some market segments have passed balance and are swinging to favor the seller.
In closing I’ll say this. The market is healthier today than it has been in years.
Like to keep up on local market stats and trends? The monthly real estate report is usually released after the tenth of each month, followed by the foreclosure report. Download
The Informant, our quarterly newsletter designed to keep you up to date on the Bullhead City market.
The turn of a new year is a time for retrospection, celebration, and optimism. Anything is possible as we put the past behind us and look forward.
After some retrospection, I believe we have plenty to celebrate when it comes to the Bullhead City real estate market of 2009.
Median price down 40% in 3 years
I realize you might take a quick look at current home values and disagree with me. After all, the median sale price in Bullhead City went from $135,000 in 2008 to $114,900 in 2009, and it was a full $193,000 when it peaked in 2006. But why?
While prices were busy climbing to record highs in 2006, so was the inventory. That unfortunate turn set us up for the sharp decline in price we’ve experienced ever since.
Have we hit bottom?
They say you’ll know the bottom of the market when it’s behind you. True as that cliche is, it’s not very helpful for forecasting.
Supply drives price (true and helpful)
When it’s low, it drives prices up. When it’s high, it drives prices down. So rather than guessing if we’ve hit bottom in terms of price, take a look at supply.
Therein lies the good news
When the clock struck midnight last Thursday, the supply of homes for sale in Bullhead City hit a 3 ½ year low. The number of homes on the market is right back where it was in the 1st quarter of 2006, shortly before prices spiked and put our market on a very bad course.
If you plot the supply since then, what you will see is a very long, but very steady course back toward a balanced market.
Take a look:
That brownish-red area shown above is bad news. It means there are too many homes for the current demand. Notice that it peaks at the same point the orange price line does? Homes were already coming on the market much faster than they were selling by the time prices topped out. That excess inventory drove prices down in a classic case of buyer’s market.
Now see how both sale prices and the number of listings have been moving down in sync since the peak? And that the blue area representing sales moved up significantly in 2009?
The brownish-red area has now been cut in half since the worst of it, as we went from a 21.5 month supply of homes in 2008 to a 10.5 month supply at the end of 2009.
Cause for optimism
While many of the market segments are still buyer’s markets, and foreclosures are still weighing down prices, the market is healthier than it has been in several years. Let’s hope it stays the course. I’ll keep you posted.
With precisely one day on the job, Bullhead City’s new City Manager, Toby Cotter, starts blogging today at Bullhead City’s website.
The blog, entitled 365 Days to Sustainability, will cover a wide range of community topics:
From finances to tourism to senior services, this ongoing community dialogue will help us discover and explore how to build the most sustainable community possible. We will discuss taxation, water, solar, healthcare, housing, recreation, clean air, diversity, civic groups, tourism, community engagement and much more.
A daily blog, huh? Sounds pretty ambitious to me! I love the idea and think it’s a indication that we might expect some fresh ideas from the new City Manager.
The first entry includes a plea to the community to get involved:
What can you do? I would ask that you please step forward and assist the City Council, Staff and myself in this venture. There are so many ways to become involved in our community. Voting, volunteering, coming to city meetings, joining a community group, attending social events, suggesting a new way to improve city services and being a positive member of your neighborhood are just a few of the ways you can participate.
Yes, it does take a village, doesn’t it?
You might notice he closes the blog post by saying he is looking forward to working with us again. This isn’t Cotter’s first tour with Bullhead City. He served a few years back as Bullhead City’s Public Information Officer. Most recently, he was Village Administrator in Richfield, Wisconsin (population 11,500) before accepting the new position in Bullhead City.
Bullhead City has a history of short-term City Mangers, which hinders such important things as continuity in leadership and long-term planning. Especially when you consider that the City Council has built-in turnover. Let’s hope the trend stopped yesterday.
I’ve talked to Toby Cotter about this very concern, and it’s not something lost on him. I’m excited for the City to have a familiar and qualified person taking over and really do look forward to see how Bullhead City progresses under his guidance.
I’m also looking forward to reading his new blog. One question, why no ability to leave comments on the blog posts? I’ll have to do my commenting from here, and I invite you to do the same.
The Bullhead City Foreclosure Report includes all homes sold in Bullhead City (site built homes, manufactured homes, and condominiums) as reported to the Western Arizona REALTOR® Data Exchange unless otherwise noted.
Hey guess what. Only 45% of the residential sales in November were foreclosures (REO/Bank-owned). Yes, that’s a lot of foreclosures, but it’s been a few months since foreclosures accounted for less than half of the monthly sales, and it’s the eve of the new year, so let’s call it a victory (yes, I’m sneaking this last real estate report in just under the wire).
So banks have grabbed a more than 50% of all the sales this year so far, and that’s a good thing because if those foreclosures were not selling, they would be putting even more pressure on the rest of the sellers in the market.
Bottom line, foreclosures need to move through the system at whatever price the market dictates.
We could not have hoped for better November home sales, with sales surpassed October for the first times in years. As mentioned, human sellers grabbed more than half of those sales.
Here’s the breakdown:
Bullhead City Residential Sales in November 2009
This first section includes all property types. A breakdown by property type follows.
|
Foreclosures |
Non-Foreclosures |
| Units Sold |
32 |
39 |
| Median Sale Price |
$88,785 |
$120,000 |
| Avg. Price per Square Foot |
$69.63 |
$92.25 |
| Avg. List/Sale Ratio |
94.3% |
91.2% |
| Avg. Days on Market |
117 |
203 |
Site Built Homes
|
Foreclosures |
Non-Foreclosures |
| Units Sold |
26 |
20 |
| Median Sale Price |
$95.335 |
$99,900 |
| Avg. Price per Square Foot |
$67.16 |
$103.76 |
| Avg. List/Sale Ratio |
94.7% |
92.3% |
| Avg. Days on Market |
110 |
184 |
Manufactured Homes
|
Foreclosures |
Non-Foreclosures |
| Units Sold |
4 |
15 |
| Median Sale Price |
$62,500 |
$52,000 |
| Avg. Price per Square Foot |
$39.67 |
$73.07 |
| Avg. List/Sale Ratio |
89.7% |
88.0% |
| Avg. Days on Market |
179 |
235 |
Condominiums
|
Foreclosures |
Non-Foreclosures |
| Units Sold |
2 |
4 |
| Median Sale Price |
$260,250 |
$131,700 |
| Avg. Price per Square Foot |
$161.65 |
$106.64 |
| Avg. List/Sale Ratio |
99.4% |
97.6% |
| Avg. Days on Market |
90 |
179 |
August
