GREETINGS FROM VERNA ACKER
REALTY EXECUTIVES Elite
414.534.7400
FOR YOUR INFORMATION:
Real Estate Information from Western Racine County; Waterford, WI 53185
January 18 2002 Newsletter

TABLE OF CONTENTS
2001 Western Racine County Equalized Tax Rates
Land Use Value Assessment

THESE ARE THE 2001 EQUALIZED TAX RATES per $1,000 of fair market value, and the actual property taxes on a home assessed at $150,000 for Western Racine County taxing districts. A property owner can compare taxes in other communities by dividing his or her property's fair market value (shown on each tax bill) by 1,000, then multiplying by equalized (EQ) tax. The information below is taken from an article in Section of the Sunday, January 13, 2002 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

(Districts are listed by mill rate ranking)
TAXING DISTRICT - TOWNS EQ Rate $150,000 home
Dover (Brighton Schools) 21.40 $3,765.00
Norway (Drought/Sanitary District) 20.93 $3,871.50
Waterford (Washington Caldwell) 20.76 $3,136.50
Raymond (Drought Schools) 20.38 $2,941.50
Rochester (Honey Valley/Burl schools) 20.25 $3,195.00
Dover (Union Grove Schools) 20.23 $3,433.50
Dover (Waterford Schools) 20.00 $3,394.50
Norway (Drought/non-sanitary dist.) 19.86 $3,673.50
Dover (Dover-Kansasville schools) 19.74 $3,351.00
Dover (North Cape Schools) 19.72 $3,348.00
Waterford (Waterford Schools) 19.55 $2,953.50
Norway (Washington Caldwell schools) 19.50 $3,606.00
Dover (Yorkville Schools) 19.45 $3,301.50
Norway (Waterford schools/Sanitary Dis) 19.37 $2,582.00
Yorkville (Union Grove Schools) 18.97 $3,090.00
Burlington (Browns Lake Sanitary) 18.83 $3,582.00
Burlington (Bohners Lake Sanitary) 18.82 $3,579.00
Rochester (Waterford Schools) 18.77 $2,961.00
Raymond (North Cape Schools) 18.72 $2,701.50
Rochester (Honey Lake/Burlington school) 18.61 $2935.50
Raymond (Yorkville Schools) 18.59 $2,683.50
Norway (Waterford Schools/no sanitary) 18.29 $3,382.50
Yorkville (Yorkville Schools) 18.20 $2,964.00
Norway (Muskego Norway Sanitary Dist) 18.16 $2,358.50
Dover (Burlington Schools) 18.03 $2,061.50
Norway (North Cape Schools) 18.03 $3,334.50
Raymond (Raymond Schools) 17.79 $2,568.00
Town of Burlington 17.65 $3,357.00
Norway (Muskego Norway Schools) 17.10 $2,162.00
Rochester (Burlington Schools) 16.79 $2,649.00


TAXING DISTRICT - MUNICIPALITIES EQ Rate $150,000 Home
Village of Waterford 23.60 $4,020.00
Village of Union Grove 22.66 $3,999.00
City of Burlington 22.51 $3,880.50
Village of Rochester 18.33 $3,014.00

The chart shows the 2001 EQUALIZED RATE, and the taxes on a $150,000 home using each municipality's ASSESSED TAX RATE. The two rates are very, very different. Equalized rate is a number provided by the state Department of Revenue that estimates the 100% fair market value of property in each municipality. The EQUALIZED RATE is the only rate we can use to fairly compare one community's tax bill with another. The column on the chart showing the actual taxes on a $150,000 home is calculated using each community's ASSESSED TAX RATE, which may or may not be 100% of fair market value. In almost every case, if you multipy the EQUALIZED RATE listed in the chart by $150,000 you will not get the figure in the final column, because the final column is based on the ASSESSED RATE, which varies in each community.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has been calculating these rates and comparing taxes in communities for more than 20 years. We are confident that the figures are correct. Remember: the value of this chart is the ranking that we give to each community. And it does make a difference where you live, as much as $1,100 difference on a tax bill from the highest-taxed town to the lowest-taxed town.

LAND USE VALUE ASSESSMENT
Data is taken from the Designated REALTOR Hottips - January 14, 2002
Use Value Assessment
QUESTION: If [person] has a property that is woods and it is assessed at $20,000, and it is sold for $100,000, does use-value-assessment affect this? Does it say on the tax bill if they are being assessed because of this?

ANSWER. Parties should contact the local tax assessor to determine whether property is subject to use value assessment. The transfer of a property itself does not trigger a tax penalty. The use value penalty will be assessed to the tax payor who changes the use of land assessed under the use-value system to a non-agricultural use. [Person] may refer to the WRA website for more information about use value assessments, see http://www.wra.org/Resources/resource_pages/use_value_resources.htm and http://www.wra.org/Legal/Hottips/general/landuse.asp

I SENT THIS INFO TO THE WATERFORD TOWN ASSESSOR, Kathy Romanek, TO ASK US WHAT SYSTEM SHE USES. Her answer:

Use value is only for ag land, ag land only. Forest (Woods) and swamp (Marsh) are their own classifications and are in the Compliance Law to be valuated at Market Value. If this sale crossed my desk, I would change the value according to the sale plus use the ratio we are at. A lot of times this sale probably has woods and ag land. Then I have to investigate the acres and assess it accordingly with so many acres of wood with new value and then the ag land would get the use value. Kathy can be reached at the Town Hall at 262-534-2350 or by e-mail at romanek@ols.com.

GREETINGS FROM VERNA ACKER
REALTY EXECUTIVES Elite
414.534.7400
FOR YOUR INFORMATION:
Real Estate Information from Western Racine County; Waterford, WI 53185
January 28 2002 Newsletter

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Top Ten Home Improvements
Our Newest Client/Customer Service

TOP TEN HOME IMPROVEMENTS
As you prepare to sell your home, a few small repairs can add thousands of dollars to your sale price. With minimal investments, it is possible to boost your net return. Below, you find estimated repair costs and expected investment and returns for the Midwest regions, according to a 2000 report done by HomeGain:
HOME IMPROVEMENT COST RETURN EST
1. Lighten and brighten $61-98 $587-994 894%
2. Clean and declutter $272-395 $1715-2359 511%
3. Landscape front/back yards $339-493 $1035-1488 203%
4. Stage your home for presentation-$420-737 $1599-2649 267%
5. Repair electric & plumbing $322-430 $694-1198 152%
6. Repair damaged flooring $1132-1479 $1557-2224 45%
7. Update kitchen and bathrooms $833-1459 $2242-4004 173%
8. Replace or shampoo carpeting $2161-2539 $2832-3655 38%
9. Paint exterior $1904-2405 $2339-3116 27%
10. Paint interior $980-1285 $1736-2313 79%

WE PROUDLY PRESENT OUR NEWEST SERVICE FOR CUSTOMERS AND CLIENTS UNDER CONTRACT WITH US!!!
We are just putting the finishing touches on an exceptional new service that we are very excited about. Our web master spent part of yesterday walking us through it and we have been preparing the first samples for our present customers and clients.

Beginning about February 1, each customer and client that has a contract with us; a listing contract and/or an Offer to Purchase, we will provide an on-line opportunity for you to access your records, at your convenience. For our sellers, all showings, showing reports, ads, and other things that may be associated with the selling process will be on your personal site. Once you have an accepted offer, the progress of that offer will be posted. For buyers, we will post your progress from the perspective of what our office is doing for you. This will be a private web site. Each customer and client that is posted will be provided with a user name and an access code. Each morning, we will post anything that occurred in the past day or two on your site. Sellers will be able to check at any time to review what showings were scheduled, to see what the showing reports say, to review ads that are run and to keep track of your transaction. Buyers will be able to find out if the title was ordered, seller paid inspections are done, calls to lenders, appraisers and inspectors, etc.

For the first month, we will keep in touch by mail, as we have been doing and also through the web site. We will phase out our U.S. mailing of the ads and the showing reports for all of our sellers who have e-mail. Those sellers and buyers who do not have e-mail will still receive the same service as they have before and will receive mailings as we have been doing for the past 23+ years.

We expect to continue, as we have always done, to communicate with you by phone whenever necessary. This new site will be a record of what has been done. This will enable you to keep track of your transaction's progress. It will enable you to let us know if you have concerns and it will give you a play-by-play record of your transactions from the beginning to the end. We will bring you into the transaction so that we can work together to keep transactions as smooth as possible.
If you wish to see a sample of our newest service, go to: http://www.vernascontracts.com/sellers/sampleseller.htm. You'll need username: sample & password: testing.

We will invite any comments, suggestions, and criticisms. This is something new that has not been done in this area. We hope that it will help us to stay ahead of the bar as we work to bring you better service through the use of technology.