Revaluation retaliation: In Cornelius, upset homeowners launch campaign to fight new values

There’s no shortage of property owners upset over Mecklenburg County’s latest revaluation. But one group of homeowners in the northern town of Cornelius might just be more vocal, and organized, than most.

“I’ve never seen such anger and frustration in all my years in office,” Cornelius Commissioner Jim Bensman said.

Most of the upset homeowners in Cornelius live in pricey lakefront homes, whose values skyrocketed in this year’s revaluation. Riled-up homeowners attended a meeting at Cornelius Town Hall a few weeks ago to complain that the county assessed their homes far in excess of market value.

Bob Deaton, a longtime resident of The Peninsula, an upscale Cornelius community, organized the meeting. He said at least 100 people showed up.

Deaton said the majority of lakefront homeowners saw their property values increase without rhyme or reason, in some cases by more than 100 percent. He wouldn’t discuss his own home revaluation.

Peninsula residents Lane and Sunny Yates, real estate agents with Keller Williams in Cornelius, were among those who attended the meeting. Lane Yates said home values in his neighborhood increased anywhere from 30 to 220 percent. He said their home’s value increased from $700,000 to $1 million, while a friend’s mobile home on a waterfront lot near The Peninsula on Green Dolphin Lane increased  in value from $325,000 to $725,000.

“It’s just incredible,” he said. “The government is digging deep into people’s pockets to increase their budgets, and it’s a nasty mess.”

Bensman, who is stepping down as a commissioner this month, also attended the meeting but not, he said, as a disgruntled homeowner.

“I did not appeal my revaluation. It was fair,” he said. “I don’t have a dog on this fight. I’m just trying to help other citizens who have a problem.”

Bensman said he is helping homeowners by distributing an online revaluation survey to residents. The survey’s questions focus on, among other things, pre- and post-revaluation prices and whether residents have appealed. Deaton and Bensman said that when they finish analyzing the survey’s results, they’ll take the findings to Cornelius and Mecklenburg officials and the General Assembly.

But Chuck Hicks, the county’s revaluation manager, said he doubts the group’s efforts will take it beyond the county’s Board of Equalization and Review, which handles revaluation appeals.

“Realistically, the board might look at specific neighborhoods where the group thinks revaluation estimates are not based on market information. But that would pretty much be the extent of it. I can’t think of anything they could do to effect any changes beyond that,” Hicks said.

Hicks said that while he’s encountered neighborhood leaders and activists over the years speaking out against revaluations, the group in Cornelius is the largest and most organized that he’s heard of.

“They’ve questioned our process and justification for the values we came up with,” he said. “I provided as much information as I could. I appreciate their concerns and encouraged them to follow the appeals process, as painful as that may be. But it’s a statutory process, and neither the assessor’s office nor the county commissioners can change it.”

Hicks said Cornelius residents are having a hard time grasping why Mecklenburg County lakefront home values increased, while the values of properties in the adjacent counties of Iredell, Catawba and Lincoln decreased.

Hicks points to the timing of the revaluation in Mecklenburg as the factor.

In Mecklenburg, the previous revaluation was in 2003. In the other three counties, 2007, at the top of the real estate bubble, was when the most recent revaluation took place.

“So there was only one place for their new values in 2011 to go, and that was down,” Hicks said.

None of that seems to comfort the Cornelius homeowners, who say they continue to gather support. Bensman said that since he and Deaton emailed the revaluation surveys to residents in late October, they’ve received more than 100 responses, and more continue to come in every day.

“The way the data keeps coming in, I expect we’ll soon have a much larger group,” Bensman said.

But he admitted the survey results might not reverse the values set in the revaluation.

“Some people think we’re going to be able to get the County Commission to repeal the results of the revaluation,” he said. “Well, that’s not going to happen. But we are gathering factual data that we believe will prove the assessor’s office made some serious mistakes that have damaged people.”

Many Cornelius residents who appealed their revaluation are not happy with the assessor’s office’s response, which is also adding fuel to the fire.

“Their appeal was basically ignored,” Lane Yates said. “People went to a lot of trouble to prove their homes were not worth what the assessor said. They pulled comparative data and hired professional appraisers.”

Yates said he and his wife are sending out newsletters to clients urging them to get involved in the fight against the 2011 revaluation.

Hicks said many property owners are not happy with his office’s “no change” response to appeals. If a homeowner’s initial appeal is declined, Hicks said they could file a second, more formal appeal with the Board of Equalization and Review. That appeal is presented in person before 15-member panel appointed by the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners. If still not satisfied, property owners can take their appeal to the North Carolina Property Tax Commission in Raleigh.

Cornelius resident Bob Elliot is part of the group fighting the revaluation. He’s also helping analyze the online survey’s data.

“There’s no question there’s some major flaws and people are upset about it,” he said.

While he wouldn’t give the specific amount, Elliot, who lives on Bethelwood Lane, said his home’s value spiked about 50 percent and some of his neighbors’ homes more than doubled in value. Elliot said he hired an independent appraiser who said that, based on the area’s comparative sales, his home had increased in value by only about 20 percent.

“Anyone with half a brain knows property values haven’t inflated 50 percent,” Elliot said. “It’s like the county threw darts on a wall to come up with these new values.”

The higher values are raising concerns about the ability of owners to sell their homes.

“Inflated values can scare buyers away,” said Frank Free, a real estate agent with Lake Realty in Cornelius.

“There’s a big danger in having tax values so far off from market values. When something is overvalued like that, the tax implications can be a concern for potential buyers,” said Free, who is not part of the Cornelius group fighting the revaluation.

Tom Palmer, owner and broker-in-charge of Terra Vista Realty in Cornelius, also is not part of the group, but he said inflated revaluations can have a negative impact on people looking to sell their house.

“Buyers are concerned about the tax burden they’re going to inherit when they buy a property,” he said. “And if the tax payment is going to be substantial portion of your monthly payment, it can affect demand for a property. It’s one of several factors that go into someone’s decision to buy a home.”

Boykin can be reached at [email protected].