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May 2015 — Property Management Quarterly — Page 5
C olorado commercial real estate
property owners should be
aware that the 2015 notices of
value are being prepared by
Colorado county assessors and
will be published by May 1. If you, as an
owner, manager or tenant of the prop-
erty, do not agree with the value the
county assigns to your property, you
have the option to appeal the value.
Upon receipt of the notice of valu-
ation, if you choose to appeal there is
a specific form contained in the NOV
that can be used. All appeals must be
postmarked or received by each coun-
ty, pursuant to state statute, by June 1,
which falls on a Monday.The county
then has 30 days to act on the appeal.
Understanding how the assessor
values property will help in structur-
ing the value appeal. Assessors, by law,
look at sales and income approach
data that occurred between Jan. 1, 2013,
and June 30, 2014, to determine the
property’s estimated value as of Jan. 1,
2015. Using a computer-assisted mass
appraisal, the assessor files all of the
sales data that occurred in the county.
It grades the buildings by condition (if
you pulled a construction permit, that
information is entered as well) and by
using a sales-comparison analysis to
determine a value for each property. It
also develops a cost approach as well
as income approach as part of the pro-
cess of valuing commercial property.
To determine if an appeal is neces-
sary, it will be critical to review the
value and determine if it is appropri-
ate, based on the actual income and
condition of the
property valued dur-
ing the study period.
If your property
experienced any
factors that would
negatively impact
the value, an appeal
should be consid-
ered.
Once the NOV is
reviewed, you will
know whether there
is a call to action. If
there is, the actions
taken by the consultant on the client’s
behalf, more times than not, save the
owner crucial dollars.
Keep in mind, proceeding to get the
assessed value lowered without use of
a consultant is not a simple task.The
assessment appeal procedures and
deadlines are exacting and compli-
cated.The Colorado law is hundreds of
pages backed up by hundreds of pages
in the Assessor Reference Library.
Submitting an appeal that meets the
requirements of the county assessor
is not easy. An experienced prop-
erty tax professional will be familiar
with the differences in each county’s
appeal procedures. In addition, consul-
tants have a strong understanding of
appraisal principles and knowledge of
the specific state statutes, and county
and Board of Assessment appeal pro-
cedures. Moreover, most consultants
have relationships with many county
staff appraisers.These relationships
are an important aspect of an appeal.s
Taxes
Dan George
1stnet Real Estate
Services Inc.,
Lakewood