The Regrid Blog

 We love seeing all the amazing things people do with Regrid’s nationwide parcel data, and are always thinking of new ways parcel data can provide new insights.

To that end, today we are releasing the Detroit Assessment Gauge which can help Detroit homeowners understand if they may be overpaying their property taxes.

While the Detroit Assessment Gauge is specific to Detroit, the principle of determining potential property tax over-assessment has national application and should be of interest to all.

The Gauge uses Regrid data and is a proof of concept that evaluates privately owned single-family homes in Detroit for one potential cause of over-assessment and higher-than-warranted property tax bills: Inconsistent Assessment.

Our VP of Research and Development, Alex Alsup, has spent the past couple of months working on this project using our parcel data to highlight the inconsistencies in property assessment. Up until now, there has not been an easy way for Detroiters to understand if they should be worried about their home’s assessed value today. Our Tax Assessment Gauge provides a way of easily understanding if an inconsistent assessment may be contributing to over-taxation. 

The Detroit Assessment Gauge from Regrid uses 2022 tax roll data from the City of Detroit’s Office of the Assessor, as well as Regrid’s own land parcel data, to assign approximately 70% of Detroit’s occupied housing units Assessment Gauge Scores which compare a home’s Assessed Value per Square Foot to that of comparably sized properties within the same census tract.

Read the Full Report on the Detroit Assessment Gauge Here

Please Note - This research and assessment work has currently been done only for Detroit. If you are interested in seeing this in your area, click here to fill out a form to let us know if you would like us to do a similar gauge in your location and we will add that to our list of places to explore over-assessment next.

We developed the Detroit Assessment Gauge for two reasons: 

1. To help Detroit residents understand if their homes might be overassessed & give them the information they can use to appeal their assessment when the next window opens in January 2023.
   
   
2. As a proof of concept that can be expanded to counties and states across the country where the model is applicable. If you’d like to see a version of the Detroit Assessment Gauge in your city, you can let us know here.

Why does this matter?

Homes with higher Assessment Gauge Scores are more likely to be overassessed and could potentially be paying more than necessary in property taxes. Those with lower Assessment Gauge Scores are less likely to be subject to over-assessment.

A report published in April 2022 by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy noted that amongst single-family homes in Detroit, 95% of the assessed value comes from improvements on those properties (the homes themselves) and just 5% from the land a home sits on.

Empowering land owners is just the beginning.

The Detroit Assessment Gauge is a proof of concept that Regrid hopes to bring to other cities across the country. 

With our nationwide parcel data, the Detroit Assessment Gauge is able to provide tangible assistance for homeowners to stay informed and properly evaluate their properties. If you’re interested in working with data-at-scale for your next project, please reach out to our team for a free data sample. 

Happy Mapping!
Alex Alsup and the Regrid Team

About Regrid:

Regrid is the leading provider of land parcels and location context data for your maps, apps, and spatial analysis. We serve an array of industries that require land parcel and spatial data at scale, including real estate, insurance, energy, infrastructure, agriculture, logistics, and government.

Have questions? Want to evaluate our dataset? Get in touch with our team at parcels@regrid.com.