Over at the city assessor’s office, the goal is to move to the market, said Assessor Steve Sinell.

“We follow it up and we follow it down.”

For most of his almost 30 years at the city of Eden Prairie, that course has generally been up.

This year, in residential real estate, a new picture emerged, with a 1 percent average change downward in single family parcels, and as much as a 4 percent average decrease for condominium parcels.

“This is a new phenomenon for Eden Prairie,” said Sinell.

But Sinell is not quick to generalize trends, especially when it comes to property values.

One of the things those at the assessor’s office have to explain is the generalization that “everybody knows” values are down a certain percent.

“The reality is that all real estate values are local,” he said, “down to the neighborhood.”

You can have a national trend where values are down 10 percent nationally, but that’s skewed by Florida and California.

The thing to keep in mind, he said, is that all values are local; all values get down to the neighborhood, all properties get down to the property type.

On average, Eden Prairie single family property values are down 1 percent. Look closer at the data; and you’ll see that while 38 percent of the single family parcels did face a decrease in value this year, 58 percent had no change.

“We follow the market. We don’t make the market. We can’t anticipate the market,” said Sinell.

Assessment

Brian Duoos, a longtime Eden Prairie resident and manager with Edina Realty, serves on the Board of Appeal and Equalization, the local entity where citizens can appeal the value of their property.

 Most of the time, it doesn’t reach that level.

The vast majority of value concerns “are taken care of before they even get to the panel,” he noted.

By this time, most Eden Prairie property owners should have received their 2008 Notice of Valuation and Classification. The city mails out the notice to approximately 22,000 properties in the city.

The value of the property (along with the city and school levies) is the basis for the property taxes owed.Sinell noted that one source of confusion is that people look at their 2008 tax statements, and wonder if they can do something about the value listed for their home.

Something property owners should keep in mind is that their 2008 taxes are based on a property value that is set in the 2007 assessment, which is itself based on all the market activity that occurred in 2006.In other words, this year’s 2008 assessment, which property owners should have just received, will be the basis for taxes payable in 2009.

If you receive a value that you do not believe is correct, now is the time of year to look into addressing that problem. The first step typically is to just call the assessor’s office. Sinell said they typically get 1,400 calls.

“Most of the phone calls are just a call for clarification,” he said.

The next step is where Duoos and his fellow board members come in. The Board of Appeal and Equalization is scheduled to have its first of two meetings at 7 p.m. April 10.

Application for appeal is due April 4.

The people the board sees “are the ones where the city and the homeowner had been unable to come to a meeting of the minds,” noted Duoos.

Out of that 22,000 sent out, Sinell estimated about 25 people end up going through the board process.

“I think the city does a great job of trying to be accurate and realistic,” said Duoos.

When asked if he’s ever been shocked by an assessment, Duoos said the shocking part for a lot of people happens when the market is appreciating strongly and “the assessed value goes up dramatically, which of course makes your tax go up dramatically.”

But it still might be within the realm of reality of what your home is worth, he noted. “The increase is hard to swallow but it might still be accurate. And that’s the hard thing,” said Duoos.

Equal share

By state statute, the assessor visits 20 percent of the properties for appraisal every year. They also appraise anything that has new construction or is newly platted. For the rest of the properties, “We study the market, we study the sales,” Sinell said.

According to Sinell, the 2008 assessment meets the performance standard that assessors’ values are on average between 90 percent and 105 percent of market values.

The way the system has always worked, explained Sinell, is that they lock in on a date and value the property “as of that date.”

As long as everybody’s property is valued in reference to the same date, their share of the levy will be correct. Every property is valued as of Jan. 2.

“It’s all leading up to that date,” he said.

They’ve followed the prices up and for a lot of the properties this year, they are following them down.

“… and we’ll do it again for ’09.”

2008 property values in Eden Prairie compared to 2007

For the first time in years, there is a widespread trend of decreased residential property values in Eden Prairie.

* Values for single family parcels decreased an average of 1 percent

* Values for condominiums decreased an average of 4 percent

* Values for townhouses decreased an average of 3 percent

As a whole

The estimated market value of the city totals 10.05 billion and is 1 percent higher than last year* Values for commercial parcels in Eden Prairie increase an average of 2.4 percent

* Values for industrial and apartment parcels increased 1 percent

Source: City assessor

A click away

Click here for what the County has to say about Market Value.

 Assessment process

Approximately 22,000 properties are assessed in Eden Prairie. Most property owners should have received a 2008 Notice of Valuation and Classification. The property value received is based on specifics of the property and all the market activity that occurred in 2007. The 2008 value will then be the basis for taxes payable in 2009.

 The Board of Appeal and Equalization meets 7 p.m. April 10, at City Center, 8080 Mitchell Road.

If you are looking to appeal the value of your property first call the city assessor’s office at 952-949-8511. The application of appeal to the board needs to be in by April 4.

Source: City assessor