Reader comments
Appraisal software a county requirement?

HB 54 does little to nothing about correcting our broken down property tax system. Everyone knows what began in California 30 years ago about (proposition 13) and is now in about 38 States or more. They know it is needed in Utah. Only the Utah Realty Association stands in the way. They are responsible for having killed proposals to implement it in Utah over many years - to protect their 6% commissions. They control MLS software and want the turnover which increases their opportunities to make realtively easy money off us. Solution? Do not vote for any Realtor nor developer or anyone who receives or has received campaign money from them. Then we have a chance to rejoin the United States of America. Only then will we have a chance to become a State not taxed 6th highest in the Country. Fully half the State revenues come from the US Government (highest in the Country). So why must our legislators tax us into the dirt?

This is not a debate over the MLS and who controls it. The real estate industry developed it and control it, and rightly so. In Washington State we receive sales price data of every real estate transaction on a daily basis so we rely very little on data from the MLS. We validate our sales data to ascertain that the sale is truly an arms-length transaction and should be included in our sales data analysis. Our office focus has shifted with use of CAMA software and MR-based appraisal. We have a statistics team who focuses on "neighborhood" valuation, sales, creating benchmarks for land, etc. Focusing on new construction and physical inspections for appraisers, instead of "chasing sales" data, has enabled us to put more new dollars on the tax rolls. The transition to this method has all but eliminated the huge spikes in values recently seen in counties like Davis. This method produces incremental increases in lieu of huge jumps in value for the taxpayer and a more efficient assessment function. I would applaud the local governments for moving to 21st. century CAMA products, as should all property owners.

What a joke. We ALL know (and should have) for years that the quickly-rising home "values" were due to house-flipping and "investors" recruited from signs on telephone poles.

Once you put realtors, mortgage brokers and other involved parties on a flat-fee system, you'll see these huge price spikes disappearing.

You should pay taxes on the price you PAID for your home, not what your neighbor paid for his. When the home is sold, the new owner pays the higher rate. Homes really don't appreciate that much, when you compute in interest paid, repairs, replacements, etc.

It is irrelevant why the home was sold or who sold it. The market price of a home is determined by what a willing buyer will pay a willing seller which is why non-arms length transactions are excluded. Low real estate prices in Utah, compared to other Western states, have attracted a lot of buyers, not all of whom are flippers or speculators. The Salt Lake Valley is not Miami.

If you only want to rail against an escalating real estate market, then advocate for an exemption such as your "new owner pays the higher rate" proposal. But if you think property taxes are going away any time soon, you're delusional.

WA "Appraiser". If you think Utah has "low real estate prices" you are either snorting that white powder or not paying attention. Washington State (WA) has acquisition value or purchase price taxation according to my close friends who live there. And as you say, they also are a full disclosure state. But that is irrelevent also considering in Utah assessors have the purchase price within three or four days using MLS and other sources. What is relevent is what the others (above) are saying, e.g. the Relators Association leadership (both locally and nationally) are skuz buckets who manipulate and lie to protect their onerous 6% commissions. AND they do all they (you) can to inflate property values and keep "current market values" based upon MLS hype. Such practices have led the Country to change to purchase price or acquisition value taxation. You seem smart enough to know it too, so what does that make you? Just another Realtor Association member posing as an appraiser. If actually a WA "Appraiser" you would be plauditing Washington State's taxation system based on acquisition value.