Valuations
For residential properties, Colorado law requires assessors use the "market" approach to valuation.
The market approach means the Assessor's Office reviews all of the sales of residential properties, analyzes the relationship between the property's characteristics and it's selling price, and then uses that analysis to determine the value for all market-rate residential properties.
The 2023 value of your property is the market value of your home - or what it would have sold for - on June 30, 2022.
The Assessor's Office is an elected position, whose responsibilities include discovering, listing, classifying, and valuing all property located within the county. They are required to reappraise, or revalue, all properties every other year, during the odd years, and mail out Notices of Valuation (NOV) by May 1. The NOV is to inform you of any increase or decrease in your property valuation and advise you of your right to appeal.
You can search and view your Notice of Valuation online through the NOV Viewer with your Schedule Number. This online application includes two very helpful tools. You can find a Calculation Ladder which shows the actual mathematical equation used to value your property. It also includes comparable home sales during the time period.
How are Valuations Established?
Valuation Time Period
In order to value more than 30,000 residential properties in Summit County, the Assessor’s Office utilizes standardized mass appraisal techniques. Modern mass appraisal techniques provide accurate value for most all properties. The Summit County Assessor's Office uses multiple regression analysis (MRA) which estimates the value (for all sold and unsold properties) based on sales. You can view lists of all the sales used to establish value on the Assessor’s Current Market Sales Data page.
MRA provides consistent values across a broad range of properties on the County’s tax roll because the same equation is applied to all. Since the Assessor's Office provides the value of a property for the ultimate purpose of levying and collecting property taxes in proportion to the property's value, it’s important that values are fair and equitable. You can read more about the Assessor's analysis on their Real Property Valuation page.
Property Characteristics
State law requires that the Assessor's Office can only analyze sales from a given "time period" - specifically 18-60 months prior to June 30th of the even-numbered year preceding the year of the reappraisal. That’s a lot of mumbo jumbo! Essentially, that means for the 2023 reappraisal, the Assessor's Office could only analyze and consider home sales between July 1, 2017 and June 30, 2022.
The real estate market before the June 30, 2022 cutoff date was extremely active with properties selling quickly and for record prices. These are the sales that according to state law, must be used to value other properties right now.
Residential valuations are based on market sales, so the increase directly reflects the recent changes in our local real estate market. During the pandemic, Summit County properties were in very high demand and very low supply, which is what drove sale prices so high.
That peak time just happened to coincide with the end of the data collection time period: June 30, 2022. Sales that are happening now and occurred after that date will be part of the analysis during the next valuation cycle in 2025 and 2026.
Mass Appraisal
We know every home is special to each homeowner. And the value of a residential property is directly related to the characteristics of a property. That is because values are based on market sales, and buyers in the real estate market care about certain differences between properties such as: where they are located, how big they are, the quality of materials, fixtures and styling, and many other distinctions. Typically, buyers in the real estate will pay more or less for a property, based on what they consider to be desirable characteristics, and the Assessor's valuations are based on those sales.
Since a property's value is directly linked to its characteristics, inaccurate property characteristics or other factors can cause properties to be overvalued or undervalued. You can confirm the characteristics for your property with the Assessor’s Office. Not all characteristics end up being significant to the value of a property each year, depending on the real estate market.
More Information
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Taxes
Summit County Government collects all property taxes and distributes in to local entities. Where does it all go?
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Budget
Summit County’s annual budget goes to public safety, roads and bridge, housing and other important community infrastructure.
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Next Steps
The County is exploring strategies to reduce the burden on property owners and the community.