Foreclosure's Tax Bite
Burden may soon shift to healthier
Mecklenburg neighborhoods
STELLA M. HOPKINS AND TED MELLNIK
DIEDRA
LAIRD/Staff Photographer
Braveheart Lane
• Neighborhood: Oakdale Village
• 2003 tax value: $116,300
• Sold new October 2002: $106,500
Sales in this high-foreclosure area have been below tax value and initial sale
prices. One house is listed for 30 percent below tax value.
The tax bill for Charlotte's foreclosures is coming due. Mecklenburg County appraisers are estimating property values for the first time since lax lending and exotic mortgages enabled people to buy homes they could not afford. The resulting wave of foreclosures here and nationwide has eroded property values. The price of about one in eight Mecklenburg homes sold in the past two years was at or below property tax values last calculated in 2002, according to an Observer analysis. Most are in high-foreclosure neighborhoods. Lagging sales prices mean tax values are likely to fall in hard-hit areas. Tax dollars lost because of those lower values would have to be made up. As a result, the latest price of the mortgage mess could be that homeowners in healthier neighborhoods shoulder more of the tax burden.
Forbes: Charlotte Among
Recession-Proof Cities
Forbes.com has included Charlotte on its list of 10
recession-proof cities in the United States. The list, culled from the country's
50 largest metropolitan areas, cites the cities for their high job growth,
rising home values and low unemployment amid a national economic downturn.
Charlotte ranks ninth on the list. "Despite a recent rise in unemployment, the
economy in Charlotte and the nearby surrounding region of Gastonia and Concord
has been strong," Forbes.com says. "Home prices have shown healthy growth, and
broad classes of industries like professional and business services, leisure and
hospitality, transportation, education and health are expected to float the
local economy this year." Topping the list is Oklahoma City, Okla., followed in
order by San Antonio; Austin, Texas; San Jose, Calif.; Raleigh; Salt Lake City;
Houston; Seattle; Charlotte; and Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, In compiling its
rankings, Forbes.com looked at unemployment and expected industrial growth data
through February from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. It also surveyed
home-price data from the
National Association of Realtors and gross metropolitan
product projections from the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
