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Kentwood Assessor's Office
 Frequently Asked Questions

What are assessments? And when do they occur?

Assessed Value (AV) is 50% of the True Cash Value (TCV) for the property as it existed on December 31. Assessments notices are mailed out to the taxpayers in February  informing them of what the values will be for that year.

Later in the month of February, the City of Kentwood holds an informal "Assessor's Review". At this time the proposed assessments are discussed and explained. Taxpayers may need clarification of these or they may provide additional information that may warrant a change of these proposed assessments.

The Assessor formally establishes the Assessment Roll on the first Monday of March.

 

I purchased my home for less than two times my State Equalized Value, how can I get the State Equalized Value adjusted to half of my purchase price?

The law defines the True Cash Value as the usual selling price of a property. The Legislature and the Courts have very clearly stated that the actual selling price is not a controlling factor in the True Cash Value or State Equalized Value as calculated by the assessor. For this reason, when analyzing sales for determining assessment changes, the assessor will review all sales, but exclude non-representative sales from the assessment analysis.

 

I have heard that you do not include foreclosure sales in your analysis, is this true? Why not?

Inherent in the definition of usual selling price is the assumption that the sale does not involve any element of duress in either party.

The State Tax Commission has issued guidelines concerning foreclosure sales and, generally speaking, these guidelines preclude the assessor from considering foreclosure sales directly when calculating values for assessment purposes. If the assessor has verified additional market information, then these sales may be considered.

For this reason, all distressed sales, such as sales involving mortgage foreclosure or sales involving transfers to or from relocation companies, are usually not considered as typical sales in the valuation of property for assessment purposes; nor are they necessarily reliable indicators of value when making market comparisons for current assessed values or appeals.


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