tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27704294.post-47553539452425729062008-05-09T12:06:00.000-04:002008-05-09T12:06:00.000-04:00I have no argument with the condo's price other than to note that the fellow will be selling at a loss if he gets his asking price. More power to him and his real estate agent.<BR/><BR/>That condo and the Cityline are both about three years old. I seriously doubt, for example, that swapping out the wood floors and putting in higher-end appliances will _significantly_ increase the value of the property, if at all.<BR/><BR/>As I said at the bottom of my post, one can argue about whether the District's assessment process and methodologies are correct and defensible. I'm not going to get into that.<BR/><BR/>The key point is the District, which relies on property taxes and sales recordation fees for a portion of its revenue, is forecasting lower assessment values for 2009 and thus, lower property tax revenue. If you read the WaPo, you can already see the impact of this: a $2.5MM cut to the police department's budget.<BR/><BR/>This is not unique to the District. Vallejo, CA declared bankruptcy the other day specifically because of lower housing sales, which led to lower sales recordation fees, and lower property tax revenue, thanks to falling values.<BR/><BR/>The District assesses property values on an annual basis so one can assume its assessments are a closer reflection of market realities than other localities.Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07662437220419488495noreply@blogger.com