Lot size skews home reappraisals

Franklin County has notified thousands of homeowners that the county’s recent reappraisal overvalued their properties, in part because a computer model placed too much value on oversized lots.

The model used by Tyler Technologies, the firm hired to revalue county properties, appeared to assume that some lots were large enough to be split and sold as two, even when that was impossible, said Dave O’Neil, spokesman for the auditor’s office.

Deborah Rece-Murphy, a resident of the Obetz area, was among the owners of

3,660 properties sent a correction.

She said she was shocked when she originally saw that her home, on a 0.43-acre lot, had jumped in value from $108,000 to $160,500 even though a larger home directly across the street, on a 0.2-acre lot, is valued at $102,600.

“I thought, ‘There’s just no way,’” she said.

She was relieved to get the correction notice — until she saw the new figure: $152,000, which she believes is still too high.

“I might not complain if it was $140,000 or so, but I know I couldn’t get that for the house.”

Many of the corrected estimates are in the Obetz and Grove City areas. Among neighborhoods heavily affected are Hamilton Meadows, Walnut Heights and East Darbyville.

The auditor’s office doesn’t believe the model’s errors were widespread, but The Dispatch found the same problem in neighborhoods that received no adjustment notices.

In the Worthington

Estates neighborhood in Worthington, for example, many homes on oversized, pie-shaped lots saw values rise from 50 to even 100 percent or more, while neighboring homes on smaller lots saw bumps