Ouray Real Estate Values

Written by: David Mullings

Posted by: Erin Eddy

www.ourayland.com
www.ridgwayland.com

We're in a super bad recession, and if the local real estate market isn't in the tank, it's at least within spitting distance. According to recent sales trends, that house on the corner, and yours, isn't worth what it was a couple of years ago. And yet we're told to expect our property tax bills to be much the same for 2009, with some possibly even higher. Yep. Nobody ever said life was fair. There's an explanation for this, of course.

County Assessor Susie Mayfield reported on the property taxing situation in January to the Board of County Commissioners. Her office conducts biennial (in odd-numbered years) re-valuations of real property, which together with mil levies, determine the amount of property tax due. The 2009 valuations, Mayfield said, are based on valuations from all of 2007 and the first half of 2008. Remember those good ol' days, when the fundamentals of the economy were strong? And the "get-anybody-in-a-home, regardless" theme permeated the banking and real estate industries.

Here in Ouray County, property values haven't fallen as much as in many parts of the country. Some sellers, in fact, are holding firm on their asking prices, willing and able to wait out the downturn, which inevitably will reverse. But in the meantime, we're stuck with a taxation situation where the level of taxes lags the reality of market conditions. The silver lining on the horizon comes in two years, when whatever decline we're witnessing locally will be reflected after the Assessor's Office finishes its next re-valuation process in the middle of 2010, taking into account market activity for this year.

Prudently, county commissioners advised Mayfield to explain as best her office can to property owners how the valuation process works. This is especially vital coming on the heels of the confusion and "do-over" that occurred the last time, in 2007. Then, drastically higher commercial valuations raised the ire of many merchants and resulted in a second valuation. Meanwhile, property owners and others roll with the punches of the shattered economy as best they can, hoping to scratch by until we come out of it. Despite the tough times, a "glass half-full" approach to the conditions reveals some bright points.

First, the correction in housing prices could enable some families to afford to get in the market. Second, with corporate layoffs in the big cities and the general state of crisis, lifestyle changes and a retreat to a beautiful little mountain area might be attractive to a whole lot of people across the country. The desirability of Ouray County as a place to visit and live will withstand even these times.