Properties in Forsyth County have been reappraised: Find out what that means for your home or business.

Every eight years, per state law, properties must be reappraised.

As time passes and the market changes, property values can get further and further away from their true value.

That’s why Forsyth County reappraises property every four years, Forsyth County’s tax assessor and collector John Burgiss explained at a Winston-Salem city council meeting on Feb. 3. The last assessment was held in 2021. 

At the beginning of this month, appraisals were mailed or electronically delivered to residents; information on how to obtain the assessed value of a property can be found here.

There’s time to appeal appraisals; rates are finalized in June and tax bills are delivered in July. Additionally, around 3,000 properties in Winston-Salem are still awaiting appraisal, he said.

Property revaluation ensures that residents are paying their “fair share of the taxes needed to support a jurisdiction and their needs,” he said, and explained that there are four types of assessed property: Personal property — both individual and business — as well as registered motor vehicles, public service and real estate.

And according to Forsyth County’s website, you’re eligible for a discount if you’re 65 years or older or “totally and permanently disabled,” own your home and have an annual income below $37,900. That knocks $25,000 off the value of your property or up to half off, whichever is greater. Disabled veterans are also eligible to exclude $45,000 from their property value. Apply for discounts by June 1.

Burgiss said that if residents believe their new value is “unreasonable” — if the difference is greater than 10 percent — they should appeal. Residents can file an informal appeal with the county’s assessor; that form is attached to residents’ reappraisal notices and must be filed within 30 days of a notice’s printed date.

To appeal your appraisal with the Equalization and Review Board, a board appointed by the county commissioners and separate from the county’s tax office, file your appeal by the last business day of June — this year, that’s June 30. Formal appeal forms can be found here on their website.

How and why is property appraised?

“The whole purpose of a reappraisal is to simply bring all four types of property that we tax into 100 percent of fair market value, so that everybody is paying their fair share every time we have a reappraisal,” Burgiss said.

Forsyth County experienced significant growth in 2021 and 2022, according to Burgiss. That created a demand for housing. In 2019, Forsyth County had a population of 382,295. It dipped to 378,499 in 2020 before skyrocketing in 2021 to 385,523. In 2023, the county’s estimated population reached a peak of 392,921. Redfin, a real-estate listing website, calls Winston-Salem’s housing market “somewhat competitive” and notes that the median sale price of a home was $274,000 last month, up 9.6 percent since last year. Plus, the median sale price per square foot in Winston-Salem is $160, up 2.9 percent since last year.

And in order to understand the changing market, appraisers use a sales ratio — dividing the tax value by the sales price, Burgiss explained. Say the 2021 appraised value of a property was $100,000, but it sold last year for $155,000, Burgiss explained. That works out to an assessment level of 0.65. The lower the number, the more that property’s value has increased.

On average, appraised values in Winston-Salem increased by 55 percent. That’s a pretty big jump, and can have homeowners worried about what their property tax bills will look like. However, individual municipalities determine property tax rates each year, and Burgiss told local news outlets that the changes won’t necessarily predict a big jump on their tax bill. 

Still, Wake County property values increased by 56 percent between 2020 and 2024, and in Southeast Raleigh, higher property values brought higher property taxes, according to reporting by NC Newsline.

The North Carolina Housing Coalition states that “[r]evaluations are critical times for homeowners to make sure their values are accurate and equitable – and to appeal if not.”

For help, call (336) 703-2300 or visit the Customer Care Center on the first floor of the Forsyth County Government Center at 201 N. Chestnut St. Plus, watch the full explanation from Forsyth County’s tax assessor and collector John Burgiss here.

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