Yet another businesses leaves Portland

[Croat]

Home prices in Portland have also dropped, but not as dramatically as rent prices ($505,000 current median per Redfin):

Compare to Vancouver which has been trending up in home prices ($495,500 current median):

 

[Alexx1401]

Reported last year:

Oregon Apartment Rents Among the Fastest Declining in Nation, Rent.com Report Finds

<strong>The state averaged the third largest yearly drop in rent prices in the country, with prices in the Portland metro area leading the fall.</strong>

oregonbusiness.com

Those who kept voting for utopia are soon going to have to pay a lot more for it then. As more move most of those who move are going to be the ones who were paying taxes. As the rents drop so will the tax base. What will increase is those who pay nothing in and have their hand out for free stuff. They can enjoy getting what they asked for. Will be fun to watch from a distance.

 

[Barefootdog]

Taxable value of property was fixed by Measure 50, and is no longer linked to the Assessed Value.

According to the League of Oregon Cities (obviously not a fan of property tax limitations):

"What Does Assessed Valued Mean for Measure 50?Measure 50 also separated property tax from RMV. As a result, properties in Oregon are no longer taxed at their actual market value. Instead, taxation is now based on a newly-created assessed value (AV),which was established by reducing the RMV of the property in 1995-96 by10%. The permanent rate was then applied to the assessed value. Prior to Measure 50, properties were typically assessed across a county on a sixyear cycle to produce fair and equitable taxation. However, the 1995-96 snapshot dictated by Measure 50 captured properties wherever they may have been during the assessment cycle; assessed value on properties at the beginning of the cycle during this snapshot would be set higher than a similar property at the end of the cycle, creating inequities between taxpayers."

"Measure 50 also limited the annual growth rate of taxable property value to 3% of the assessed value, well below average rate of inflation. By setting assessed values based on 1995-96 market levels and capping the annual rate of growth, Measure 50 permanently locked into place assessed value imbalances, allowing similarly valued property to pay dramatically different property tax amounts."

Full article linked here:
https://www.orcities.org/application/files/2216/8685/9599/FAQonMeasures5and_50-updated5-23.pdf

The conclusion reached in that article is presenting an intentionally harsh analysis of the effects of the measure.

Fact is unrestrained increases in the property tax burden is not something the individual homeowner can influence. The individual homeowner can do everything responsibly with regard to management of their finances and still be taxed out of their home without some limit on the governments ability to burden the individual homeowner with an ever increasing tax burden.

There was a time in the state of Oregon where the assessors office was mandated to physically inspect each individual residential property once every 6 years. Repeat...a physical inspection as opposed to a statistical analysis based upon a dated and generalized description of a property contained in department records. And the descriptive data they have is often wrong. They have no way of knowing whether the information they have on your home is actually accurate. The assessors office has only a limited idea of what your house is worth because they have no idea of interior condition, updating or utility of floor plan and components. The statistical valuation is only accurate for the "typical" property as defined by the persons designing the statistical program.

When was the last time an assessors department appraiser knocked on your front door asking for entry?

I can assure you that the assessors physical description detail of any given residence has a 25-30% or greater chance of being inaccurate. I know that first hand based upon a 45 year work history. The assessors physical description of my personal home is inaccurate. There are numerous errors including something as basic as square footage of finished living area.

 

[Provincial]

Barefootdog, it's even worse than that. I have first-hand experience with Lane County, where they took a tiny lot that was several miles from the beach by the shortest route, and used a house on a much larger lot, located on a navigable river, with a dock, less than 300 feet from the beach by public street as a "comperable" property. This at a time when the bare, developed lots were literally impossible to sell. The appraiser smugly smiled as she explained what she had done, knowing that the appeals process was rigged in favor of the County.

If it weren't for Measures 5 and 50, we would all be much worse off. The property tax is a relic of a time long past, and needs to be replaced with a tax that reflects ability-to-pay. It lingers on because of two factors, first being the ease of keeping track of amount to charge. The second is that the revenue is both predictable and stable. Property taxes stay equal or up to 3% higher no matter what, whereas income or sales taxes fluctuate based on economic activity. As I told my State Representative, "any time someone uses the words predictable or stable when talking about taxes, substitute the word unfair."

 

[Barefootdog]

Just prior to retirement I did some work on a home owned by an employee of the Lane County Assessors office. One of her tasks was to generate and retain perimeter sketch data from which square footage is computed.

I told her how often assessors perimeter sketch data and square footage estimates were inaccurate in Lane County. She told me in no uncertain terms I was wrong.

Part of my job was to measure her home. I measured it and generated a perimeter sketch. I then showed her the assessors perimeter sketch and the sketch I had just generated.

Sure enough, the assessor data was 100/150 square feet off in a 1100 or 1200sf home (IIRC). They had miscalculated how deeply the garage extended into the living area of the building. She studied both sketches carefully. I loaned her my tape so she could verify the discrepancy for herself.

She was a very nice, obviously kind, lady. No animus involved. We were both smiling.

 

[Provincial]

We weren't dealing with an assessor. We were dealing with a functionary in the office whose job was to fight any challenge to the assessment. There were several investors involved in the property, and the majority did not feel the fight was worth the cost. That was the desired outcome from the County.