If you have saved your Levy County property tax bills over the past six years you may be holding evidence regarding the killing of the real estate market! As any crime buff knows, MOM, Means, Opportunity and Motive are the basis of choosing a suspect. This editorial suggests that real estate appraisers, both commercial and official government appraisers, are perpetrators, or at least accomplices in the killing of the real estate market in Cedar Key. Commercial appraisers "surprisingly" often provide appraisals that correspond with the amount offered by a buyer seeking a mortgage. This has been a factor in the collapse of the real estate market that is repeatedly in the news. Lenders made loans based on inflated appraisals. County Property Appraisers have had a chilling effect on the real estate market because they appraise all properties, not just those being sold. Overenthusiastic appraisals accommodate mushrooming county budgets and tax bills. Potential sales are killed when buyers see a looming tax liability. So, Means, Opportunity and Motive: The legal means and opportunity are obvious. The motive is simply to jack up the appraisals before the bubble bursts. Levy County property appraisals skyrocketed during a six-year period from 2000 to 2006, over 30 percent in some years. Likewise, the Levy County budget zoomed from $17,000,000 to $77,000,000 in those years. Ironically, the enthusiastic appraisals no doubt contributed to the bubble popping. Look in your desk drawers for evidence in the Case of the Murdered Market. There may not be a criminal indictment coming down, but there is something resembling a jury trial in November. | 