Effective Age Calculator Introduction

Effective Age Calculator

The Department of Revenue’s Property Tax Division Annual Valuation Team has introduced another tool for use by assessor’s offices. The tool is the “Effective Age Calculator.”

This tool evolved from some of the training that the Annual Valuation Team has presented. Frequently, questions were raised during training sessions about determining the effective age of properties. One particular frequent question has been, “How do we get our appraisers to determine effective age in a uniform manner?”

As our Annual Valuation Team has provided assistance to counties, we have routinely noted that appraisers in many of the county offices continue to look at quality, age, and condition based on their independent professional judgment. As we work with the counties, we really encourage that the appraisers try to standardize how they evaluate, measure, and define those three major influences as well as other influences. This is critical to the success of mass appraisal valuations.

The Effective Age Calculator tool is useful in generating discussion within an office and in helping appraisers quantify and determine effective age in a uniform manner. The tool could also be helpful for training new appraisers to help them understand the influences that affect condition and effective age.

Many counties now have their staff meet routinely to discuss aspects of the valuation process and to share in an effort to get them to the point where they evaluate properties in a uniform manner. This is sometimes referred to as calibrating your staff and is just as critical as the calibration of your valuation model.

Adequate data and consistency in the listing of property characteristics can have a big impact on the quality of a county’s mass appraisal work. This tool is intended to help county assessors’ offices achieve uniformity in the area of determining effective age.

The Effective Age Calculator tool can be downloaded directly from the Department’s Property Tax Resource Center (PTRC). The Annual Valuation Team is available to train assessors’ offices in the use of the calculator and to explain possible calibrations and customizations for individual counties.

If you have any questions, you can reach the Annual Valuation Team at (360) 534-1364.