Time Running Out to Appeal Tax Revaluations

Wallace Reed has owned his property for 40 years, and this year it is worth a lot more money.

“It doesn't usually go up this much, that’s the main thing,” Reed said.

Property revaluations caused home values to increase an average 38 percent in Wake County.

In certain areas, values went up by as much as 73 percent. Reed is one of the many homeowners who have considered filing an appeal.

“It ran through my mind," he said.

So far, 8,300 property owners in Wake County and 3300 in Durham County have appealed. By the deadline, more than 25,000 appeals are expected to be filed.

Appraisers said they are seeing a spike in people wanting their services.

“We didn't get nearly the calls eight years ago that we're getting now,” Skip Granberry, vice president of Dodd & Associates, Inc.

Wake County revenue director Emmett Curl said the reason is that there are more people in the Triangle.

"In the years 2000 to 2008, we have added 90,000 homes in this jurisdiction," Curl said.

You don't have to hire an appraiser to appeal your home's revaluation. You just need to fill out the appropriate paperwork. Call 560-0300 to appeal in Durham County and 856-5400 in Wake County.

Curl said that once all the appeals come in, his staff will review them before making a revised revaluation next spring.