By Tracy Ouellette
SLN Staff
The East Troy Village Board heard from Associated Appraisal’s Director of Project Management Dean Peters about the village’s re-evaluation process.
Peters told the board Associated will be sending letters to homeowners on Friday letting them know about how the process will proceed with the upcoming home inspections, which begin the first week in May.
Peters said the company’s certified inspectors will be driving red Associated Appraisal vehicles and will be carrying identification with them to let homeowners know who they are. The home appraisers will make their first round of visits during regular business hours and do the outside inspections and measurements of homes and properties during the first round of visits. They will knock on doors to ask if they can inspect the interiors, but in many cases the homeowners won’t be home or it won’t be a good time for an inspection.
In those instances, Associated inspectors will leave a door hanger to let the homeowner know they were there and how to schedule an appointment for the interior inspection.
Homeowners who refuse to allow the appraiser access to the interior of their homes for inspection risk forfeiting their right to contest their appraisal, so, Peters said, it was in their best interest to allow them to inspect the property.
Peters said homeowners will have a couple of weeks to set up an appointment for the interior inspections after Associated’s first visit and the inspectors will be available for evening visits for one or two days a week during the second round of inspections.
Peters said if homeowners didn’t call to set up appointments, the next step could be sending out certified letters letting them know they needed to schedule an appointment.
However, Peters warned the board that the company “can’t control how many people let us in” and the entry rate varies from community to community.
“We had a recent one with 70 percent without mailing certified letters out,” he said. “But another community was at 95 percent after they sent out certified letters and then the clerks got everyone who hadn’t signed up during the elections. It all depends on how aggressive you want to be.”
Peters also addressed the problems Associated Appraisal has had in the Village of Waterford, saying it was a combination of miscommunication between Associated and Waterford officials and the fact that the appraisal process got a late start.
“We want to learn from that,” Peters said. “We’re starting early here in May.”
Peters said the most important part of the process was educating the public as to the reasons for the re-evaluation, which aren’t to raise taxes, but to update all the numbers so the property taxes were fair.
