There is new information regarding how appraisers may have determined the value of homes in Jackson County (Missouri), and the lack of information they had available to them, according to KCTV 5 News. It comes from a whistleblower inside the county who calls the assessment a colossal mistake and decided to share inside information directly with the TV station.
People selling their house usually work with a Realtor, who uses the MLS system. However, Jackson County, according to the TV station, didn’t renew its subscription to this service, so during the middle of the latest assessment, they lost access to this database.
Realtor Curtis Jay says MLS data is everything in his business. He was surprised to hear that Jackson County did not use the service.
“I would have no clue how an appraisal is done without MLS data,” Curtis told the TV station. “I’m actually stunned they didn’t have MLS access. That information is critical in assessing properties.”
The whistleblower told KCTV5 News the county appraisers’ office lost access to MLS data more than nine months ago when the subscription ended. The claim was checked out with the Kansas City Regional Association of Realtors, who confirmed it was true.
“I reached out to Heartland MLS in August 2018 when I discovered all of our appraisers did not have access to MLS. On Oct. 9, 2018 we received a letter, which is attached, from Heartland MLS that informed us that the MLS board made changes to their rules and regulations,” Jackson County Assessment Director Gail McCann Beatty said in a statement to KCTV5 News. “This change required all participants to be Realtor members and as a result, our organization was no longer eligible to receive access to the Matrix MLS system effective Dec. 1, 2018. The letter indicated that there was an alternative solution that was complimentary for county appraiser/assessor offices to provide data for recent sales and property characteristics. We exchanged a number of emails where I asked questions about the information we would receive using the data feed and how it compared to using the Matrix MLS System. After several emails back and forth, we were told Johnson County, Kansas, was using the complimentary data feed alternative with certain parameters.
“We asked about using the same parameters and a sample of what we would receive was sent to us. On Dec. 12, 2018 we received our login information for the data feed for the same complimentary data feed alternative as used by Johnson County,” McCann Beatty added. “We created a database in Access and have uploaded the information to give each appraiser access to that data. Throughout the 2019 reassessment, data provided by Heartland MLS to Jackson County and data from the Certificates of Value filed with the Recorder of Deeds as required by county code provided each county appraiser access to relevant sales data necessary and appropriate for the reassessment.”