Not fake news, though I'd have dropped the "could"

Coming October Attraction

Upcoming revaluation could bring change in Greenwich properties [sic] values

Board of Estimate and Taxation members have said to expect a shift downward in the backcountry while homes in downtown and central Greenwich may grow more valuable.

[Assessor Lauren Elliott] said this week she is not ready to make any declarations.

“The truth is it’s really too early to know for sure what’s going to happen throughout 2020,” Elliott said. “We’re going to know a lot more in the spring and the summer.”

She did allow there has been a trend toward depreciation in the backcountry.

“How much we don’t know yet and what I’m going to do is sit tight and wait until I see sales from the spring and summer,” she said. “I’m always looking at sales for my assessments. I always know statistically where we are because I see homes being sold at 95 percent of value or 90 percent of value. Certain areas and certain districts and neighborhoods stand out as changing a little bit.”

BET Chair Michael Mason said he sees a shift based on what he has heard from Realtors and homeowners and what he has seen of sales data.

“This reval is going to show a change, which it always does,” Mason said. “When the reval hits there is going to be an impact and it will show where people are buying, why they’re paying and what level of services there needs to be around town.”

Jack Kriskey, chair of the town Board of Assessment Appeals, said he too is seeing a shift.

“The deeper you go back in this town the more you have seen values fall,” Kriskey said, citing areas like North Street, Lake Avenue, Round Hill Road and Conyers Farm.

Russell Pruner, a resident and Realtor with Houlihan Lawrence in Riverside, said the trend is not new. It has been unfolding since the 2008 economic downturn, he said.

Greenwich remains an “unbelievable investment,” he said, but people are not buying as big as they used to.

“I think it’s a change in personal tastes,” Pruner said. “It used to be that big is better and now big is just big. People are looking for less than they did in the past in terms of square footage of their houses and property to maintain. It’s more expensive to maintain all of that and it’s taxed more.”

But Carolyn Anderson with Anderson Associates said she doesn’t buy the idea that the backcountry is becoming less valuable. A resident of Northwest Greenwich as well as a local Realtor, she said she “cares deeply about the property values in backcountry” and indicated a lower reval for those homes can be a boost to the market.

“I have spoken with many backcountry residents who look forward to a lower assessment in this upcoming reval,” Anderson said. “For years, the assessed value rarely matched the selling price. Lower taxes will make buyers happy.”

It’s always nice to see Realtors don happy faces and speak of Greenwich real estate remaining an “unbelievable investment” — it’s a reassuring reminder that some things never change in this world, like the used car salesman peddling that old Dodge with a rolled back odometer and promising it was only driven on Sundays, to church. But give Carolyn Anderson credit for admitting that backcountry sales haven’t matched their appraised value “for years”; I’ve been accused by a few agents of single-handedly destroying the value of backcountry homes when in fact I’ve merely reported the disaster. Did anyone blame Herbert Morrison for his live description of the Hindenberg catastrophe? I think not.

So what happens when the tax burden shifts south, to Riverside, Old Greenwich and our shorefront? I’ve heard guestimates that taxes down there may rise as much as 25%, which should elicit a few grumbles. Bob Horton has heard the same number and he has a think piece on the subject in today’s Greenwich Time, with more promised for next week. Bob and I don’t often agree on our politics, but he’s got a good feel for the town. Well worth reading (a reader told me that disabling Java in my browser -”command-comma) knocks down that paper’s cash wall and by golly, he’s right).