Home Values Down ‘20 to 30’ Percent

By Don Del Rosso

By Don Del Rosso

Times-Democrat Staff Writer

So far, Fauquier’s subdivision home values have fallen an average 20 to 30 percent since 2005, according to Wampler-Eanes Appraisal Group Ltd.

They ultimately “could be more, it could be less,” company Project Manager Mike Colavecchio said of declines. “That’s tentative.”

His team of nine appraisers already has determined preliminary values of about 19,000 of Fauquier’s nearly 33,000 residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural properties.

The appraisers expect to complete the remaining parcels by Aug. 1, Colavecchio said.

Fauquier will pay the Daleville, Va. company $788,900 to reassess its real estate.

A labor-intensive undertaking, the reassessment process involves almost 12 months of continuous field work.

“If there’s a building on it, we will attempt to get to it,” Colavecchio said in an interview at the Fauquier County Office of Reassessment at 98 Alexandria Pike, Warrenton.

While Fauquier's suburban property values have plummeted, the data also show that commercial and vacant agricultural land seems to “have held their value” since the county's last appraisal four years ago, he said.

(Wampler-Eanes did Fauquier's reassessment eight years ago.)

For now, “rural land doesn’t seem to be affected much, or at all,” said Colavecchio, an appraiser for 29 years. “Commercial doesn’t seem to be affected” at this point.

But he stressed “we are continuing to monitor the market until the values are finalized in October.”

See the April 15 Times-Democrat for the complete story.