Real property is all land, buildings and any type of attachment that is not easily removed. According to state law MCL 211.34c there are six possible classifications for real property. In the City of Wyoming there are only three of these: commercial, industrial, and residential. The commercial class includes any parcel used for commercial purposes, whether wholesale, retail, or service as well as apartments with more than 4 units, golf courses, and fraternal societies. The industrial class includes any parcel used for manufacturing and processing. The residential class includes single-family homes, duplexes, triplexes and residential condominiums.
Article IX, Section 3 of the Michigan Constitution states that assessments are to be uniform, determined annually, and shall not exceed 50 percent of “usual selling price.” To accomplish this task every year for the approximately 24,000 real property parcels in the City of Wyoming mass appraisal models are used. For residential properties the cost-less depreciation approach is used. This approach estimates the replacement cost for every building, subtracts depreciation, and adjusts the result to local market conditions using an Economic Condition Factor. The value of the land and any land improvements are added to determine the total true cash value.
Annual Review of Properties
The State Tax Commission at their February 9, 2010 meeting adopted the following guideline regarding annual inspection of property within a local unit: “local units are encouraged to annually inspect a minimum of 20% of the parcels in each property class each year.”
Additionally, the Standard on Mass Appraisal of Real Property approved July 2017 by the International Association of Assessing Officers states “a physical review including an on-site verification of property characteristics should be conducted at least every 4 to 6 years.”
To follow assessing best practices, the City of Wyoming Assessor’s Office has a plan to review all residential parcels in a 6-year cycle beginning 2020 and ending in 2025. In 2026 a new cycle will be planned and undertaken. This map shows what areas have been reviewed and the planned timing for reviewing the remaining areas.
For all the residential properties within the review area for a given year appraisers will review property record cards to make sure they are up to date and accurate. This will include updating exterior photographs and comparing aerial photography with current sketches of homes or accessory buildings on the property. Appraisers making these inspections will be carrying identification and will be driving a car marked with the City of Wyoming logo. Appraisers will not ask to inspect the interior of homes. Appraisers may request an exterior inspection or to take measurements if they have difficulty reconciling the record card with the aerial imagery.
Neighborhood Sales Analysis
Annually, the appraisers conduct analysis for every neighborhood utilizing sales that occurred in a two-year study period that spans from April 1st of two years ago through March 31st of the current year. Sales are only included in this analysis if they are determined to be arms-length transactions. Separate analyses are performed to determine the land value and the Economic Condition Factor for every neighborhood. These are applied to the specific records of each property to determine new assessments every year.
We have many economic areas or neighborhoods which allow the appraisers to focus on smaller segments of the approximately 24,000 real property parcels in the City of Wyoming. These smaller areas generally reflect uniform property type groupings and have been created around certain historical years of development, physical geography, school districts, neighborhood amenities and other such similarities. These economic areas allow the appraisers to review the assessment level by comparing to similar properties. Occasionally, the number of good sales available for any one economic area is insufficient for analysis. When this occurs, the appraiser may blend in the sales from a nearby economic area of similar type properties, thereby creating a statistically significant sample for a study. This map shows all of the residential economic areas in the city.