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Seven Falls value plunges again

By Bill Moss, Published: March 2, 2015

Lots in Seven Falls fell in value by an additional 40 percent in the new countywide property appraisal, continuing a sharp plunge from their peak when some buyers paid more than $100,000 for a home site.


County Assessor Tax Assessor Stan Duncan showed the Seven Falls value as he described a chart showing a sampling of subdivisions and their values in 2015 versus 2011, the last year the county reappraised real property.
Most neighborhoods gained at least a small percentage from the 2011 values, a reversal from the drop in 2011 from the 2007 values. The few arm's length sales that occurred in the failed subdivision on the French Broad River in Etowah showed that the value had dropped by 39.65 percent.
Henderson County reappraises residential, business and industrial property every four years; personal business property like factory machinery is reassessed every year as are public utilities. The assessor's office sent out notices of the new values to property owners on Feb. 17 and it is answering questions and taking appeals now. Appeals are reviewed first by staff and then if the property owner is not satisfied to the Board of Equalization and Review.
All in all, this year's appraisal leaves an imprint of "an encouraging market."
"We're not where in 2007 or '06 or '05 but we seem to be making a graduated growth that's reliable and sustainable," Duncan said.
Although Henderson County's economy is often summed up as a three-legged stool based on industry, tourism and farming, the county is actually becoming even more diverse than that.
"I think Sierra Nevada in addition to creating jobs is bringing people that are really appreciative of what they're doing," Duncan said. "They cut down trees to build and they used a lot of that lumber inside the plant. They're promoting an outdoor lifestyle."
Hard cider and ale have boosted the county's apple industry.
"I think our economy is more diversified for a county our size of anywhere I know of in the entire state," he said.