Is this happening locally?

I've been watching a house in Warrenton that appears to have been taken back by the bank, owners are long gone, and yet it's never been put up for sale, or even auction. I've been wondering about what's going on and this may provide an answer.

I'm going to attempt to investigate this particular property further.

If this is happening, think about the potential revenue implications for the local jurisdictions! Prince William thinks they have a revenue shortfall now!

Meanwhile, does anyone else have any anecdotal evidence that this is happening?

With property values falling in our area, many of you have been astonished that according to the county your property value actually increased.

You should know that nothing is written in stone and that these things can be appealed. First, you should contact your county immediately to find out what the process is for an appeal. It's different in each county.

Now you need to start gathering data to support your contention. One source of help can be your real estate agent. I've helped clients in the past by putting together a current analysis of the market, including comparable home sales.

If you're doing this on your own, you're going to need to get information on what has recently sold in your neighborhood, and what it sold for. The homes you're using for comparison should me as much like yours as possible.

You should talk to neighbors about their assessments. There are a surprising number of clerical errors. If your assessment is completely out of line compared to neighbors with similar homes you've got good grounds for appeal.

Take into account factors that may decrease your homes value. What's going on in the neighborhood? Is there a heavy increase in traffic that impacts the value of your home? How abour rezoning?

Are there factors unique to your home that might affect the assessment? Do you have structural issues? Is there, for example, a crack in the foundation?

There are resources in the web that can help as you prepare your case. The Federation of Tax Administrators site has good background information on the appeals process for each jurisdiction. The American Homeowner's Association has a kit to help with this process. You can download it for free on their web site. And, the National Taxpayer's Union has a guide ($6.95) on fighting property taxes.

Lastly, I'd also urge you to remember that these same property taxes are the ones that pay for policemen, firemen, schools and school teachers, etc. If no one pays property taxes you might find you don't like the place you end up living in!

There are a few items I'd like to touch on so it's a bit of pot luck!

If you didn't see this article on home equity and the changing rules in the Washington Post, you should take a look. Banks are changing the rules, even on existing home equity lines of credit. If you have a home equity line of credit and haven't heard from your bank yet, here's a heads up. (My two cents: taking money out of home equity and paying 8% interest and putting it in the bank at maybe 3% interest is a BAD, BAD move!)

The homestead property tax exemption that was being debated in the Virginia legislature has gone down to defeat. Lobbying by business interests who were convinced that businesses would have to pick up the slack in revenues for the localities killed it. For those of you looking for a little property tax relief, it's not coming via this vehicle. More on property taxes next week.

Flor is a company I've been wanting to spotlight here. I love their commitment to the environment, the fact that they have the lowest VOC output of any carpet product and the ability to recycle their products by sending them back to the company. Check out their very cool products!

Lastly, VAR (Virginia Association of REALTORS) is having a blog contest to coincide with March Madness. If you like this blog, please click this link: