Everything I read and hear in the news media tells me housing values have dropped over the past year so why hasn’t my assessment dropped?
In Wisconsin, we’ve been fortunate that our property values are weathering the market relativity well compared to many other areas of the country. While the news media portrays values as dropping, it speaks to an overall trend in some areas and doesn’t take into account a specific neighborhood or specific properties. In actuality, some communities, and some neighborhoods, have seen values increase; many neighborhoods are experiencing fewer sales yet values remain relatively stable; and a few neighborhoods have experienced foreclosures and short sales that have driven market values lower. It’s the latter neighborhoods that capture news media attention. If your municipality happens to be conducting a revaluation this year, then your assessment will reflect the most probable market value. A revaluation sets all properties at market value as of January 1 and establishes the relationships of one property to another. Those relationships remain until the next revaluation. If your community is
