Module 2: Legal Descriptions and Land Valuation

Question 1

What is the way and means by which real property, or real estate, is legally identified,
conveyed, assessed, and taxed?

Answer 1

Legal Descriptions.

Question 2

What does an assessor use to determine that all land subject to taxation within their jurisdiction is identified and taxed on the tax roll?

Answer 2

Legal Descriptions.

Question 3

A legal tax description must be constructed in such a way that it can be correctly and easily determined by who?

Answer 3

Tax Officials

Question 4

What are the common types of legal descriptions?

Answer 4

Rectangular survey
Meets & Bounds
Platted
Condominium
(a 5th less common type - Private Claims)

Question 5

The term “legal description” as used by an assessor refers to what?

Answer 5

The legally accepted description or definition of a parcel of land.

Question 6

What type of legal descriptions are part of a system of rectangles established to locate and identify parcel boundaries?

Answer 6

Rectangular Survey

Question 7

What is the cardinal rule to read a rectangular survey description (to find it on a map)?

Answer 7

Backwards

Question 8

How many sections is each township divided into?

Answer 8

36

Question 9

What type of legal descriptions are sometimes referred to as bearings and distance, where land is described using local geographical features in combination with directions and distances?

Answer 9

Metes and Bounds

Question 10

A metes and bounds description must always “close”, meaning what?

Answer 10

It must end at the same point it began

Question 11

What type of description refers to a specific lot number and subdivsion name or lot, block and caption of the plat?

Answer 11

Platted

Question 12

A condominium is not a lot or a building but it is a form of what?

Answer 12

Ownership

Question 13

What type of legal description are references to government honored land titles give to settlers prior to US sovereignty?

Answer 13

Private Claims

Question 14

What are the instances where land is specifically exempt from ad valorem taxes and is excluded from a legal tax roll description?

Answer 14

Railroad Rights of Way
Public Highway Rights of Way
County Drain Rights of Way

Question 15

What is a six mile square area of land containing 36 sections which is numbered according to its position either North or South of the base line?

Answer 15

Town

Question 16

What is a vertical column of townships in the Public Land Survey System, of six mile square units east or west from the principle meridian?

Answer 16

Range

Question 17

What is a one square mile block of land containing 640 acres and comprises of one thirty-sixth (1/36) of a township?

Answer 17

Section

Question 18

Due to the curvature of the Earth and slight errors in measurements made during the original surveys, not all sections are a regulation 640 acres, to compensate for the discrepancies, what are the odd-sized subdivisions referred to as?

Answer 18

Fractional quarters

Question 19

How many acres are in a non-fractional section?

Answer 19

640

Question 20

How many square feet in an acre?

Answer 20

43,560

Question 20

What are special subdivision of land which were created when rivers or lakes prevented the subdivsion of a section into regular 40 or 160 acre tracts called?

Answer 20

Government Lot

Question 21

A traverse line that runs along the margin of a stream or lake and is not generally a boundary in the usual sense as the bank itself typically marks the limits of the survey is called what?

Answer 21

Meander line

Question 22

How many feet in a Rod?

Answer 22

16.5

Question 23

Calculate the number of acres in this description:
Commencing at the SW corner, then North 10 rods, East 16 rods, South 10 rods, West 16 rods to Point of Beginning.

Answer 23

1 acre
(10 x 16.5 = 165) x (16 x 16.5 = 264)
(165 x 264 = 43,560)

Question 24

How many acres in the N1/2 of NW1/4 of NW1/4?

Answer 24

20 Acres

Question 25

This is one of the more common types of errors found in an assessment roll and occurs when a parcel is described on the assessment roll twice, either in its entirety or in part, such as when one parcel description overlaps another?

Answer 25

Twice Assessed

Question 26

Non-contiguous lots must have what?

Answer 26

Separate tax descriptions

Question 27

What are some of the physical characteristics you must consider when establishing land values?

Answer 27

Location, size, view, frontage on lake/river, topography, shape, existing vegetation, soil, available utilities, unusual site preparation costs

Question 27

What is a unique number that identifies a specific parcel and helps to easily and readily identify descriptions which are listed on the assessment roll and have been plotted on the tax map?

Answer 27

Parcel Identification Number (PIN)

Question 28

What line maps showing the current parcel and usually have roads, section boundaries, rivers, villages, or cities?

Answer 28

Tax Maps

Question 29

What are the general forces you must consider when establishing land values?

Answer 29

Economic Social Environmental Governmental (zoning & deed restrictions)

Question 30

In establishing land values, you must consider what 2 things?

Answer 30

General forces and physical characteristics

Question 31

What methods are available for the land valuation process?

Answer 31

Sales comparison Allocation Extraction Subdivision development Income capitalization techniques

Question 32

Land values should generally be applied as what?

Answer 32

Calculated

Question 33

What is essential before recording sales information on maps or in a spreadsheet format for analysis as part of the mass appraisal process?

Answer 33

Verification of sales information

Question 34

What unit of comparison considers all land in a parcel and can be used to value all types of land?

Answer 34

Square foot

Question 34

Selecting the proper what, is important in gaining an understanding of how the market is behaving and is an important part of a land value analysis?

Answer 34

Unit of comparison

Question 35

Calculate the sales price per front foot given the information below: Sale price: $46,500 Front feet: 85

Answer 35

$547

Question 36

What unit of comparison is the lineal distance that a lot (usually referring to an urban or suburban lot) borders on a street or water and is typically expressed in feet?

Answer 36

Front Foot

Question 37

Calculate the sales price per front foot given the information below: Sale price: $45,000 Front feet: 75

Answer 37

$600

Question 38

What unit of comparison is used when the market does not indicate a difference in site or lot value even when there is a difference in lot size?

Answer 38

Site

Question 39

What unit of comparison is used as a unit of comparison when valuing large land areas?

Answer 39

Acre

Question 40

Selecting an inappropriate unit of comparison can lead to what?

Answer 40

Faulty results

Question 41

In the mass appraisal process, regardless of the unit of comparison selected, you must also give consideration what is setting the land value for a parcel?

Answer 41

Adjustments for positive and negative influences

Question 42

What are values that lie outside the range of values formed by the majority of other sales?

Answer 42

Outliers

Question 43

Generally, what kind of weight should unexplained outlier sales be given in determining land values?

Answer 43

Little

Question 44

When there is a lack of sales information, what should the assessor do?

Answer 44

Use sales outside of the normal time frame Use sales from outside of the area (with adjustments)

Question 45

What is a technique to identify and measure adjustments to sales prices or rents of comparable properties?

Answer 45

Paired sales analysis

Question 46

Sale 1, for $27,000, is a vacant lot located in subdivision A. The assessor is trying to establish land values for subdivision A. Sale 2, for $25,000, is a vacant lot located in subdivision B which is similar to subdivision A. (Method 1)

Answer 46

(Method 1) 0.08 or 8.0% (($27,000/$25,000) - 1) = 1.08 1.08 - 1 = 0.08 or 8%

Question 47

Sale 1, for $27,000, is a vacant lot located in subdivision A. The assessor is trying to establish land values for subdivision A. Sale 2, for $25,000, is a vacant lot located in subdivision B which is similar to subdivision A.

Answer 47

(Method 2) $27,000 - $25,000 = $2,000 2,000/25,000 = 0.08 or 8%

Question 48

True or False Actual front foot is always the same as the Effective Front Foot (EFF)?

Answer 48

False - adjustment may be make for depth factors or different front and back footage

Question 49

What is used to allow for a uniform amount per front foot to be used to value parcels of different depths by adjusting for differences?

Answer 49

Depth Factor

Question 50

What is the depth factor formula?

Answer 50

DF = actual depth/standard depth

Question 51

Using the information below, calculate the depth factor Actual lot depth: 150 Front Foot: 75 Standard Depth: 120

Answer 51

150/120 = 1.12

Question 52

A lot deeper than the standard depth lot will usually have (more or less) value than a lot with a standard depth?

Answer 52

More

Question 53

A lot that has less depth than the standard depth lot will usually have (more or less) value than a lot with a standard depth?

Answer 53

Less

Question 54

In what land value method does the assessor first determine a typical ratio of land value to total property value (or building value) for the specific type of property being appraised and then infers land value for the subject property or properties by applying that ratio?

Answer 54

Allocation Method

Question 55

In what land value method does the assessor estimate the depreciated cost of improvements and subtract it from the sale price of an improved property leaving an estimate of the value of the land?

Answer 55

Extraction or Abstraction Method

Question 56

General factors that influence agricultural land values include what?

Answer 56

Length of growing season Precipitation Proximity to and type of markets Proximity to and type of transportation Topography

Question 57

Specific factors that influence agricultural land values include what?

Answer 57

Productivity of soil Slope Drainage Management practices Parcel size and shape Quality and availability of water