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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How is the real estate information obtained?
How often are the tables & charts updated on the site?
How do you determine the Appreciation Rate?
Glossary explaining real estate & site terms.
How is the real estate information obtained?
The basic data is collected by looking at each recorded deed in the Deed Room of the County Clerk's office. This data collection process is done on a regular weekly basis. While recording a deed is not a legal requirement, most are recorded and usually in a timely fashion. Recorded deeds are dated and notarized. However, a deed is often not recorded on same date of the deed or even the same month (this happens frequently at the end of each month). Because of this, the number of deeds included in any particular month can increase later. This is a primary reason for what appears to be discrepancies in later reports involving the same properties in the same time frames.
Each deed is visually scanned and included in the database if it contains a transfer of ownership that might have some real estate market significance. This may include deeds between ex-spouses in a divorce, some between related entities and others that might contribute some insight to users of the data. Deeds not included are mostly family member transfers and others that do not appear to reflect any real change or involve monetary consideration.
The specific data collected, if available, includes the date, seller (grantor), buyer (grantee), purchase price (consideration) if any, address, legal description, information about any previous sale and any other available and meaningful data included in the document. Reviewing any referenced plats or other recorded documents then augments this information. The number and type of data fields in our database have been added as the potential usefulness of the available data became apparent (and as database software improved). For this reason some fields do not span the entire time frame that the database encompasses (January 1983 to the present).
Following the collection of the deed information, the mortgage books are checked to determine what type financing, if any, was used in the transaction. If a mortgage was recorded for any transfer, all available information from the public record is collected and associated with the appropriate deed. A somewhat terse coding system is employed to maximize understanding of who made the loan and what type loan was used.
The previous deed for the same property is examined to ascertain if it was essentially the same 'type property' at that prior transfer. If so, the previous purchase price information is collected and used in calculating a meaningful appreciation rate that represents a realistic result for each property sale. These rates are then summarized in calculating the average appreciation rate used in the various reports.
The Property Valuation Administrator (PVA) assigns a unique map number to identify each property in the county. This identifier is obtained from that office and used in our database system as the linking field between the various main tables; Public Record, Physical Description, Listing Service and Building Permit. Occasionally a temporary or altered map number is used in those situations where our concern is maintaining the completeness and integrity of the database.
This public information is then augmented with specific data regarding individual properties. This data is collected from appraisal reports, real estate listings, PVA files, personal inspection and any other available source of information. And since this methodical and objective process has been going on for over 20 years, our database contains much archived information.
How often are the tables & charts updated on the site?
Many are updated monthly as indicated on each page. Year-to-Date (YTD) pages are updated fairly frequently. However those depicting yearly totals are only updated in January of each year.
How do you determine the Appreciation Rate?
An appreciation rate is calculated for each property that is sold after determining that the previous sale was of the same 'type' property (this is an annual average rate and not a compounded rate). The first calculation divides the difference in the present sale price and the previous sale price by the previous sale price (SP-PSP/PSP) to ascertain the 'gross appreciation'. Then the number of years between sales is determined (using a yearly figure converted to decimal equivalent) which is divided into the overall appreciation. This resulting figure is then attributed to the transaction as a 'useful appreciation rate' if the following factors are true: the recent seller owned the property for a minimum of 2 ½ years (30 months) and the resulting appreciation rate is between -2.99% and 9.99%. While these are subjective and possibly arbitrary limits, they are utilized to eliminate those situations where someone might significantly improve a property for immediate resale or when a property has been completely neglected. Generally when an 'average appreciation rate' is included in a report, the number of actual sales and the number of sales used in making that calculation are also shown so that one can draw some conclusion as to the resulting figure's significance.
This method for ascertaining a realistic appreciation rate is hopefully more accurate and meaningful than other methods that just calculate the difference in average price or median price from the same time frame a year ago. Too often the source of data for those figures only reflects sales of a particular segment of the market, e.g. a local Listing Service or a particular loan portfolio. Our experience in the Frankfort and Franklin County real estate market is that the local Multiple Listing Service (MLS) is only involved in approximately 50% of the residential market and significantly less in other type properties. The same is felt to be true of any specific loan portfolio.
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