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The (Syracuse, NY)
May 6, 2003 ASSESSMENTS CAN'T KEEP UP WITH HOUSE SALE PRICES - FOR THE MOMENT Pam Greene Staff writer Residents in Lysander can
expect to see a major increase in the assessment of their homes this year.
That's because in terms of dollars, the average price of homes in
the town is climbing faster than anywhere else in the six-county
area. "We can't keep up with the market," said Town Assessor Don Long.
"The market is outpacing our assessments."
Town assessors want to remedy that.
Some homes will be assessed $20,000 to $40,000 higher than they are
now, Long said. Overall, assessments will rise between 5 percent and 30
percent for most Lysander property owners, he said.
How does that translate into higher taxes?
The average house in Lysander sells for $178,700. If the town
raised the assessment on such a house by 20 percent, the homeowner would
pay an additional $1,214 a year in total property taxes. Homeowners pay
about $34 in taxes for every $1,000 their house is assessed.
That average home sale price is $33,100 higher than the average
price of $145,600 in 2000.
During that same period, home prices in DeWitt rose an average of
$13,300; in Manlius, $24,500; in Cicero, $23,700; and in Clay, $9,600.
In Pompey, the average home price dropped nearly $30,000 during
those two years.
Real estate agents say Lysander is becoming a very desirable place
to locate.
The availability of property is helping to drive that demand for
homes in Lysander, they say. But that demand is greater than the speed at
which homes are being built. And the homes that are being built are
expensive.
According to the Lysander assessor's office, there are 8,625
parcels of land in the town. In 2001, there were 5,949 houses on those
parcels. This year, town officials said, there are about 6,100 houses.
That means the town still has plenty of room for future development.
It's the availability of land in Lysander that makes the town so
desirable, said Beverly Ferris, owner of Ferris Real Estate in North
Syracuse. It's one of the few remaining areas where people can create
their dream house, she said. She is not surprised Lysander's assessments
will soar this year.
"I have been selling real estate for 40 years and for the first
time we have more buyers than we have property," Ferris said. "I've never
seen a supply and demand like this."
Lysander is particularly hot, she said. Some clients have come into
her office wanting to see houses only in Lysander. As far as the quality
and prestige of a town are concerned, she said, Lysander can easily
compete with Manlius and Fayetteville.
In fact, she said, some of her clients thought their house search
would take them to the Fayetteville-Manlius area. Instead, she said, many
of them loved the open space of Lysander and chose to buy homes there
instead.
In the past six months, she said, she sold four houses for more
than $400,000 in Lysander. In the past two years, she said, she has sold
homes for close to $500,000 in Lysander.
"It's developing like mad," she said. A Ryan Homes tract off Cold
Springs Road, she said, is an area where almost everything sells for more
than $400,000.
But there's a downside, she said. The interest rates are low, so
people think they can afford more expensive homes, she said. Once the
homes are reassessed, the tax bill will be much more expensive. People may
not really be able to afford the houses they think they can afford, she
said.
She predicts some homes will go back on the market within the next
few years as homeowners realize they can't pay the bill after the
reassessments.
Long said he expects people to have questions about the
reassessment.
And if the market takes a nose dive, he said, the homes will be
reassessed again and the property tax bills will be lowered. In 1998, the
town reassessed homes and the value of homes in Radisson had declined and
the town reassessed them, Long said. The property tax bills reflected the
decline, he said.
The town has been doing annual reassessments for four years, Long
said. The town also vowed to do annual assessments for at least two more
years as part of the Assessment Plan filed with the New York State Office
of Real Property Services.
Inside
Home sale prices, 2000 vs. 2002/Page B-3
Sales price vs. assessed value
A look at the sales price of homes that have sold recently in
Lysander compared with the value at which the town last assessed them can
show a significant difference. The following examples are home sales
listed in recent Sunday Real Estate sections of The Post-Standard:
Address Sale Sale Assessed Differ.% differ.
price date value
3165 Cady's Arbor $119,900 April 11 $105,700 $14,200 13%
8853 Oswego Road $100,000 April 9 $94,400 $5,600 6%
8000 River Road $266,000 April 7 $217,600 $48,400 22%
3141 Timberlea Lane $190,000 March 31 $121,200 $68,800 57% The Post-Standard. Purchased for use on the Borodino Bullett | ||