Recently in Seasonal residents Category
The following letter was submitted to the Meredith News for publication next week. This is posted with the writer's permission.
Letter to the Editor Meredith News August 2010
The Vision Appraisal Process in Moultonboro has resulted in amazingly flawed results and frustrated homeowners have been given little hope that these results will be improved. With the devaluation of properties nationwide and locally that has been well documented, and the large number of properties that have languished, unsold, on the market in the last several years, the news that our lakeside property values have increased 28% (roughly $250,000 in a large number of homes) is ridiculous. The entire town valuation has increased! Have you heard of ANY town in the country whose values have increased?
As a Realtor, I can assure you that property values are not up. Assessments are NOT up. Private assessments (and they happen regularly every time a home mortgage is obtained for financing or refinancing) are down. Realtors work daily with clients to determine the selling price of a property through a “Comparative Market Analysis” process which has similarities to the assessment process, and I doubt that you could find a Realtor who would say that home prices have gone up from the prior appraisals to the new time period of April 2009-April 2010.
The DATA that Vision Appraisals has used for waterfront is flawed. With nearly 1800 waterfront lots in Moultonboro, there were 30 sales in the April 2009-April 2010 time frame. Of those 30, 5 were discarded (for a variety of reasons that VA deemed valid) and the remaining 25 sales formed the basis of the analysis of value in such a convoluded way that it can’t be simply summarized. Suffice it to say that the properties were sub divided into “zones,” sales price was compared to prior assessed value, and factors were assigned that were applied to get the new values. Essentially groups of 2-5 homes with widely varying prices and sizes were used to come up with the new assessment. And the results were hugely different from the prior year.
Vision Appraisal did their analysis without sharing the way that they did it, didn’t discuss the methods that they used, sent out the new valuations, and had “meetings” with residents.,,,not to answer questions, but just to provide a “step” (hurdle?) before owners were able to talk with the Selectmen or the Town Appraiser. Then the owners were told to wait for the tax bills to arrive, PAY THE TAXES and file for an abatement later.
Who does Vision Appraisals work for? They work for the Selectmen. The Town Assessor (we HAVE one!) works for the Selectmen. The Selectmen responded with surprise at the Selectmen’s meeting on Thursday night at the extent of the frustration and anger over the new appraisals. They promised to “look into” the situation. Until they do, and until the issue is resolved, waterfront owners should get together to agree on a response….whether they pay their last year tax rate or hold off payment altogether, a unified response to this abysmal process should be developed.
Janet Cramer
Contact the MCA with your concerns about our town. There are issues and ideas that our summer residents have that would be meaningful for the town to be aware of. We would like to hear what is on your mind. We are open to hearing what folks that do not live here in Moultonboro year round, have to say about their observations of the daily goings on. Surely there are issues of great concern to our seasonal residents that will matter to our local government.
Please contact us by email. www.moultonborocitizensallicance@yahoo.com. We look forward to hearing from you and you can count on us to enlighten our local government with what concerns you.
Members of the MCA
And we don’t just mean our wildlife friends! We’re glad to see folks return back to Moultonboro for the summer season. While the weather has not really warmed up to summer heat, there is still much to do to prepare for the warmer months ahead of us. Homes need cleaning and preening. Lawns and gardens need attention. Old friends have come a’ greeting. Boats need tending to and the big lake beckons for adventures!
Many of our seasonal residents are not registered voters in Moultonboro as they live in other states for most of the year. Non resident property owners are not voters either. Yet they still are tax payers here in our town and have issues and concerns that should be heard by our town government. The MCA would invite any resident to contact us with any ideas or areas of interest that may be of value to our town. We’re happy to lend an ear and help in any way that we can.
Email us at www.moultonborocitizensalliance@yahoo.com and we will contact you as soon as possible.
