Determining fair market value of property that sells is likely to be fairly easy except for the many ways property can be sold or listed on the sales disclosurer–example: sale to relative is often well below a price that would have been set in regular market conditions or on sales disclosurer for various taxation purposes the sale price is broke down to include chattel property items sometimes at inflated prices (avoid higher land and infrasturcture prices) and are eligible for depreciation.  Most properties do not sell on an annual basis so it is required that properties be classed into specified groupings and an estimated fair market value is to be determined then annually a formula used to establish what happened to value within that grouping. (Yes, assessed value can go up or down and by various percentages.)  If only it was as easy (done according to state specified methodology) as some people believe.  Yes, there are assessor departments that do better than others, and yes sometimes favoritism may slip through an audit—and yes property owners lie about many features of their property.

It’s called uniformity Jack; one state (DLGF), one standard.  Beyond a galaxy of complexity lies a universe of obscurity, and while it’s free market determination (not a determination of state), valuation ain’t rockit siunce.

It’s state contrived not “required” in terms of value, that property be classified.  Valuation is determined by the private sector- period.  Anything other than that, is inept gaming of the productive sector.  

If a commercial property or residential home each sold for $100K (US dollars, not Euros or Yuan, no “complicated” currency exchange issues); hyper-inflating the assessment of one over the other (1% vs. 3%) isn’t legitimate, it’s gaming- it’s socialism.  State attempts at “quantitative easing,” or money printing, can be found in an obscure universe of bond bloat & inflation by “assessment classification” exchange schemes (commercial value of $100K is converted to $103K), in state speak; a language of “complexity.”  

Those who prefer to speak “state,” don’t seem to have the best interests of citizens in mind; however intended / witting, enslaving them by percentages, of “complexity.”           

Until its recaptured, and time’s running short, American greatness is being relegated to the past tense.

Again, government only has what it gets, from the productivity of the private / productive sector.  

You mentioned in an earlier post, a property owner who paid $300K and appealed for a lower assessed value of $250K.  There are many more stories where assessments exceed purchase or actual value, and Marion County has the backlog proof.  Folks with these problems aren’t hard to find.  

Within the past two years, one local real estate investor made an “opportunity of a lifetime offer” to a well known local assessor; who declined, due either to stupidity or dishonesty.  When the assessor insisted that two of the investor’s properties were easily worth $150K each, the investor wrote up an offer form for that assessor to sign, to purchase each property @ $120K each or $240K for both, a “windfall” of $60K by simply having the “professional knowledge” to make such a determination.  The not so capable assessor failed to make the deal of a lifetime & refused to properly lower his value guess.  Within that same time period, the investor sold one property for $110K & the second for nearly $115K, vowing to avoid Indiana “investment property” (this investor had apts & many well kept rentals prior to the tax debacle), which he’s done ever since & is currently making plans to leave the state (don’t know how much “better” things are in TX or FL).