NATIONAL
Commercial real estate distress rises to $64 billion
Fortune
Distress is spreading in the US commercial real estate industry, with the amount of troubled assets climbing to nearly $64 billion in the first quarter of this year. The amount of distressed assets rose 10% in the first three months of the year. Risks loom on the horizon too, with nearly $155 billion of commercial property assets that are potentially troubled, according to the report.
ARIZONA
Counties can no longer steal your home to pay a small tax debt
AZ Central
Patricia Miller lost her childhood home in 2010 over only $808 in unpaid property taxes. The mortgage had been paid off many years before, when Patricia's father, Devoe Poleeson, owned the small Phoenix home. But less than a thousand dollars of unpaid property taxes was all the government needed to sell the tax debt — and the power to foreclose on the home — to a private investor.
ILLINOIS
Why did Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi's home assessment go down while his neighbors' soared?
Chicago Tribune
Kaegi said the decrease was a corrective counterbalance to a massive assessment hike his house received when he tattled on himself three years ago, resulting in his family paying more per square foot than neighbors in comparable homes. Expand Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi owns a million-dollar, 120-year-old Prairie-style, two-story home on a spacious corner lot on the eastern side of Oak Park's Frank Lloyd Wright Historic District.
RHODE ISLAND
Taxation – Statute of limitations – Assessment of property taxes
Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly
“The petitioner, Newport and New Road, LLC, 1 (petitioner), appeals from a Superior Court decision granting summary judgment in favor of the respondent, Steven D. Hazard, in his capacity as the tax assessor for the City of East Providence (respondent). The petitioner argues that the Superior Court justice erred in determining that the three-month statute of limitations contained in G.L. 1956 §§44-5-26 and 44-5-27 barred its challenge to the respondent's assessment of property taxes.
On Your Dime: Rhode Island property values jump following delayed revaluations
WJAR
High housing prices appear to be here to stay and so is the impact on your property values. Five Rhode Island communities moved forward with property revaluations this year after requesting a delay from the General Assembly last year due to skyrocketing prices and a shaky market. While values have barely budged, most of the communities behind the delays are standing behind their decision.
TENNESSEE
16 percent tax hike approved by Rutherford County Commission majority
Daily News Journal
The Rutherford County Commission voted 13-8 in support of the tax hike recommended by Mayor Joe Carr to help fund an $849.8 million budget for government and public education services. The owner of a home appraised at $334,600, the median value out of 92,036 houses by the Rutherford County Property Assessor's Office, will pay over $217 in annual property taxes.
TEXAS
New Chief Appraiser at Howard Central Appraisal District
Kbest Media
Clarissa Teichman strives for the department to be seen as accessible to the public and transparent. The appraisal district has undergone changes, such as updating the website to better serve the community in an easier and more efficient way, and becoming more involved in the community. She believes that the best way to deal with the public is just to treat people like people.
WASHINGTON
Residential property values drop three percent
The Suburban Times
The latest assessed values for residential and commercial properties throughout Pierce County are in the mail to taxpayers and posted on the Assessor-Treasurer's website. “Home values in all parts of our county have leveled off from the high-water mark of last year, and in most cases decreased slightly,” said Mike Lonergan, Pierce County Assessor-Treasurer. Countywide, the average single-family home decreased in value by 3.1 percent this year, dropping from $572,100 to $554,500.