Realty tax tips: Home equity line of credit can help in emergency

Property assessments in Davenport continue to lag behind the market value of the city’s housing stock, despite the national trend of falling home prices, according to the Davenport City Assessor’s Office.After fielding many calls from angry homeowners who continue to see their assessments and property taxes climb, aldermen asked for a report from the city assessor.On Thursday, Becky Eitling, the office’s chief deputy assessor, said that based on real estate sales data from the first three quarters of 2007, homes in Davenport on average are selling for prices 5.5 percent higher than their assessed values. In other words, she said, market value is outpacing the values placed on homes for taxing.The information came as a surprise to some aldermen and likely to many homeowners who have appealed their assessments in the past year."One of the complaints I get is that property values are going down in Davenport, but assessments continue to go up," 5th Ward Alderman Bill Lynn said, adding that when he told several acquaintances in the real estate business about the assessor’s office explanation, they "laughed in my face."Lynn said the high number of foreclosures in Davenport must be detrimental to the city’s overall property values."I understand there may be a lag, but my concern is everyone is calling me saying their assessments are going up, but property values are going down," he said. read more