VT Census Case Studies : Arlington County: Real Estate Assessments

Created and last modified by molfe on 02 Jan 2016

Brief Overall Description of the Dataset:

Arlington County’s Real Estate Assessments (Richard Millman) is collected by the department of real estate assessments.

The link below is to external data hub which include APIs to extract both real estate and permits data.  This should at least give you an idea of content – though the source systems have much more.  There are limits as to how much data can be downloaded per request. Data is currently being pulled.

https://datahub.arlingtonva.us/

We were sent property quality data. This is a qualitative assessment of the condition of the property (e.g. good, poor).

Link: https://propertysearch.arlingtonva.us/

Date Inventory Completed: 7/14/2015

Screening

  • Is the data collected opinion-based?
  • Is the data collection recurring (must be collected at least annually)?
  • Is there data available for 2013?
  • Is the data collected at the property or housing unit level?
  • Can we access the data by August 15th?

Purpose

  • What is the purpose of the organization collecting the data?

The Department of Real Estate Assessments is responsible for the annual appraisal for ad valorem taxation of all locally assessed real property in Arlington County:

  1.  Adhering to Virginia statutes, local ordinances, and best practices of appraisal and assessment administration
  2. Providing transparent, public access to information and processes
  3. Employing a competent, well-trained, professional staff; and
  4. Demanding the highest standard of ethical behavior of department employees.

  • Why is it collected and how does the organization use it?

The data is collected for tax, fees, and/or planning purposes.

  • Who else uses the data?

In raw form, the data is used throughout the county. The data also forms the basis of other commercial and federal databases.

  • Who do they sell the data to?

Commercial/non profit entities who repurpose the data to create their own databases or products.

 

Method

  • What is the data collection method? 

Property taxes are primarily based on assessed value as determined by the County Assessor.

  • What is the type of data collected? 

Administrative

  • If designed, who created the questions?

  • What is the raw source of the collected data (prior to any aggregation)? 

Assessment records


Description

  • What is the general topic of the data (1-2 words)?

Real estate assessments

  • What are the earliest and latest dates for which data is available?

Unknown

  • Is data collected and available periodically?

Yes

  • How soon after a reference period ends can a data source be prepared and provided? 

Nightly for online system, but may be out of date due to document processing delays.


Selectivity

  • What is the universe (e.g., population) that the data represents?

Property in Arlington


Accessibility

  • How is the data accessed? 

Can be accessed online.

Unknown in regards to accumulated historical and current data.

  • Is it open data?

Real estate assessments are a matter of public record; for each parcel of real estate, the name of the owner(s), the amount of the assessment, and the taxes levied are recorded in the Land Book.

  • Any legal, regulatory, or administrative restrictions on accessing the data source?

Nothing stated explicit. As agents of the state, we must protect the data like other county agencies.

  • Cost? - One time or annual or project based payment?

Free

Does this dataset appear to meet our needs for the Census study? YES

Full Inventory

Description

  • Features
    • What is the temporal nature of the data: longitudinal, time-series, or one time point?

Longitudinal

    • Geospatial? If Yes, at what level?

Property address and parcel


Metadata

  • Is there information available to assess the transparency and soundness of the methods to gather the data for our purposes?

For information on how the assessment is made, see: http://topics.arlingtonva.us/realestate/assessments/

Assessors can take three approaches to valuing a property.

Sales Comparison Approach: Comparing your property to others sold during the same appraisal period – both the sale price and related factors.

Even within the same neighborhood, various factors can affect values of individual homes. For example, one-story houses may be in larger demand than two-story houses, or vice versa. Older home values might rise slower than newer homes.

Residential assessments are based on neighborhood sales occurring from September 1 of the previous year through August 31 of the current year, with an emphasis on current year sales.

Cost Approach: How much money it would take, at current material and labor costs, to replace your property with one similar (due to flood, fire or other circumstances). If your property is not new, the assessor must also estimate how much value has been lost to wear and tear and adjust for this “depreciation,” by deducting it from the replacement costs. The depreciated cost plus the value of your lot make up the total property value.

Income Approach: How much income your property would produce if it were rented as an apartment, store, factory, etc. The assessor must consider operating expenses, taxes, insurance, maintenance costs, and the profits most people would expect from the rental. The net income after operational costs, plus a capitalization rate, determines the assessment value. This method is most often used for commercial properties, and seldom for single-family homes.

  • Is there a description of each variable in the source along with their valid values?

No

  • Are there unique IDs for unique elements that can be used for linking data?

Unknown

  • Is there a data dictionary or codebook?

Unknown

 

Selectivity

  • What unit is represented at the record level of the data source?

Property

  • Does this universe match the stated intentions for the data collection? If not, what has been included or excluded and why?

Unknown

  • What is the sampling technique used (if applicable)? 

  • What was the coverage?

 

Stability/Coherence

  • Were there any changes to the universe of data being captured (including geographical areas covered) and if so what were they?

Unknown

  • Were there any changes in the data capture method and if so what were they? 

Unknown

  • Were there any changes in the sources of data and if so what were they? 

Unknown

 

Accuracy

  • Any known sources of error?

Can file an appeal if there is an error in assessment. See: http://topics.arlingtonva.us/realestate/assessments/appeals/

  • Describe any quality control checks performed by the data’s owner.

From website: The information distributed via this website has been proofed  but is not guaranteed to be 100% correct or 100% current.

 

Accessibility

  • Any records or fields collected, but not included in data source, such as for confidentiality reasons)? 

Unknown

  • Is there a subset of variables and/or data that is must be obtained through a separate process? If yes, is there a separate legal, regulatory, or administrative restrictions on accessing the data source? Cost? - One time or annual or project based payment?

Unknown


Privacy and security

  • Was consent given by participant? If so, how was consent given?

Unknown

  • Are there legal limitations or restrictions on the use of the data? 

For real estate assessment gathered from online:
"Any person is hereby authorized to browse the County website for informational purposes. In addition, any person, subject to the specifically stated guidelines and restrictions, may participate in the interactive and opt-in functions of the website.

Information may be printed or downloaded from the website for non commercial, personal use only, provided all copyrights, licenses and other proprietary notices contained on the material are retained. The County logo with accompanying wording is copyrighted. No person may, however, sell, distribute, modify, transmit, reuse, repost, use or create derivative works based on the content of the website in whole or part for any purpose without the written permission in each instance from Arlington County Government or the owner of such content. The policies on the Arlington County website are subject to change, without notice, upon public posting in a timely fashion by Arlington County Government.”

  • What confidentiality policies does the source have? 

As agents of the county, we need to treat the data like any other county employee in regards to confidentiality and security.

Tax Payment Information Disclaimer on website:  “The Treasurer of Arlington County (the “Treasurer”) makes every effort to provide the most current and accurate tax payment information possible, however, the Treasurer: (i) makes or provides no warranties, expressed or implied, for the tax payment information herein, including its accuracy, completeness or reliability and (ii) assumes no liability or responsibility for the use, misuse or interpretation of such information. The tax payment information on this site may not reflect recently-made payments or adjustments. Taxpayers are solely and wholly responsible for making payment by the required payment due date, and any information provided herein may not constitute grounds for waiver or abatement of any penalties or interest due to late payments.”

Research

  • What research has been done with this dataset? (e.g., impact of policies, predictors of student success)

Unknown

  • Include any links to research if provided:
  • List any other data use notes provided by the supplier.

 

Gaps/Concerns

  • Feasibility - can all jurisdiction levels provide the data (if applicable)?
  • Data ownership - a lack of clarity in legal guidance stemming from a lack of clarity with who owns digital data?
  • Data collection authority - what data is reasonably private and what constitutes unwarranted intrusion?
  • Describe any other notes you have or any gaps/concerns you see with this dataset: