Friday, August 25, 2017

Real Property Valuation – Artificial Intelligence


It’s coming… Actually, it’s already here.  Artificial intelligence (AI) is being used to value properties for tax assessment of real property taxes.  If sales in your neighborhood are going up, chances are that when re-assessment comes, your taxes will go up.  Computer software is precise when analyzing real property data, taking hundreds of sales prices and making comparisons that include number of bedrooms and bathrooms and land sizes.

What AI cannot do however, is identify old kitchen or bathroom appliances or 1960’s room colors or landscaping. It takes a human being, and really a land valuation appraiser or attorney, to determine traffic and parking problems or access to schools, shopping and public transportation.  There is a reason why so many commercial and residential properties receive real estate tax assessment reductions – AI alone does not do a good job of valuing real property.