Higher End Home Values also Decreasing

The depressed market is now finding it's way into the neigborhoods of the higher end homes. I just recently found in the Ranch Reserve subdivision in Westminster CO that the recently sold properties are selling for way less than what the county has them valued at. This is a lovely upscale area located just East of Federal and just South of 120th Ave. where most of the homes are either custom or semi-custom with beautiful views of the mountains. Just to cite a few specific examples; a home valued at $724K, sold for $500K, another valued at $650K sold for $520K, and another valued at $1.2M sold for $758K. Adams County Assessor tells me that they reassess every other year on the odd years. When they do reassessing, they go back 18 mos. What this means is that these homes were assessed in 2009, and the comparables they used were from 1/1/2007 to 6/30/2008. So with the next assessment being in 2011, the assessed value of homes selling today, can have comparables that were used over 3 yrs. ago, thereby making the assessed value way higher than what the listing price may be on homes currently for sale. The county value is for sure one of the things to look at, when deciding what price a potential buyer may wish to offer on a home, but as in this case, it should be used very loosely, at best.