CHARLOTTE N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — As property owners across Mecklenburg County are finding out the recently adjusted value of their homes, some are facing serious sticker shock.
The Mecklenburg County Assessor’s Office revaluates all properties every four years. On average, the country assessor said residential properties saw a 58 percent increase in 2023.
Some neighborhoods in an evolving area of south Charlotte saw much higher increases.
“I didn’t think it was going to be that much,” Robert Falls said.
For 20 years, Falls and his wife have lived in a three-bedroom, single-family home on Bowman Road. It’s part of a corridor off South Tryon Street that’s seen numerous rezonings for multi-family housing in recent years. In 2019, the 0.26-acre property was valued at $97,000.
Late last week, he received a letter from the Mecklenburg County Assessor’s Office with a new value of $307,000, a 216 percent increase.
“In 2019, we did our reappraisal and values were continuing to go up, they were probably by the time the first bills went out, property values were already higher than what we had estimated them,” Assessor Ken Joyner said.
Joyner says Charlotte’s red-hot housing market during the pandemic lead to unprecedented property value increases.
“I’ve been in this neighborhood 27 years,” Rosa Peña said.
During the last appraisal period, Peña’s home off South Tryon was valued at $162,000. Last week, she got a letter in the mail showing a 58 percent increase.
“I’m in shock because of that,” Peña said. “I was not expecting that.”
This summer, these homeowners will receive another letter in the mail. This time, it will be regarding how much taxes they will owe for their recently adjusted property values.
“It’s low-income, which I’m low-income, now they are moving out,” Falls said. “They got to because the value keeps going up, up, up and up.”
During the last revaluation, the county said it received more than 15,000 calls from residents questioning their adjusted property values.
More calls are expected this year.
