New Property Search Feature
June 19th, 2023
Before I get into the update, thank you to everyone for the outpouring of support for this project and those who helped me reduce my costs with their monetary contributions. I've received a lot of messages from people who are excited to have access to this data and suggestions for additions to make it even better. This update is a direct result of those suggestions, and I hope everyone will be able to benefit from them. With only 11 days till the county deadline, this will probably be the last update I'll be able to get out before the cutoff.
Property valuation protest information
Based on the numerous comments I've seen from the assessors about protestors needing to provide better sales comps, I built the currently available search for Recently Sold properties. Several people now, though, have pointed out that the Lancaster County website also mentions comparing your current assessment to equivalent properties' current assessments to ensure your property is being treated equally.
Specifically, the Real Property Valuation Protest Information Guide, which on page 2, section "What should be done prior to filing a protest?", part 1 "Gather information" provides three bullet points of information protestors should gather. The third bullet point mentions recent sales, but the second bullet point says:
Review property records and the assessed value of properties in the area that are comparable to your property;
Searching for Similar Properties
Now that I know this is also important, I've updated the database and website to allow searching for properties similar to yours and comparing their 2023 assessment valuations.
To use the new Similar Properties search, start a property search as usual. Two new buttons on the search results page will now appear at the top of the Search Options.
These will switch you between Recent Sales and Similar Properties search types. Review the properties and their components, as the system doesn't analyze the properties but searches for similar results based on a few parameters to help with your research.
Good luck, I wish you all the best!