BY WESLEY YOUNG
SALISBURY POST

Revaluation notices are out, confirming a real estate boom that has driven up land values all over the county.

Some 50,000 landowners in Rowan County received their property value forms during the past week. They have 15 days from the time they received the form to file an appeal.

‘‘Rowan County has hidden from the industrial movement from Charlotte and Greensboro, and that is gone now,’’ Tax Assessor Jerry Rowland said. ‘‘The corridor has caught up with us.’’

The county has seen mobile home lots going for $15,000 to $25,000 per acre, Rowland said. Charlotte real estate agents are coming in to hawk lake properties. Million-dollar houses are going up.

‘‘We’ve never seen that before,’’ Rowland said.

Typically, values went up 25-30 percent from the last revaluation four years ago, Rowland said. But it wasn’t uncommon to see 40 to 50 percent increases. And properties that doubled in value weren’t unheard of, Rowland said.

When the notices came out, Diane Greene’s phone started ringing. Greene, a real estate broker who owns Century 21 Town & Country, had people calling her to see if their values could possibly be true. When Greene asked the callers to describe their houses and where they live, she figured the tax assessors got it about right.

‘‘In reality, I don’t think any of them (the callers) should do anything’’ to protest their valuations, Greene said, noting that the new value each callers gave ‘‘really is much, much closer to the market value.’’

‘‘We are finally catching up,’’ Greene said.

The forms might confuse some people, Rowland admitted. The form has the initials ‘‘FMV’’ and a number beside it. That means ‘‘Fair Market Value,’’ and the number is your new property value. Farmers should pay attention to the ‘‘LU’’ value on their form. That stands for ‘‘Land Use’’ and refers to the lower property value that farmers pay while actively engaged in farming.

Any taxpayer who wants to appeal a property value can simply fill out the enclosed appeals form and mail it back to the assessor’s office.

The county will handle appeals differently than in the past. Formerly, people had to come in and talk to appraisers. This year, the appraisers will actually come out to take a look at the property in question.

‘‘It will be a real advantage to the taxpayer,’’ Rowland said. He added that some forms didn’t get out until Monday, and those people will be allowed a few extra days to file their appeals.

Those who don’t like the appraiser’s final decision can appeal this spring to the county’s Board of Equalization and Review. People can even appeal that decision on to the state.

County Manager Tim Russell said many county residents – especially those who haven’t been in the housing market – may be unaware how much values have changed.

‘‘We have all seen that our community is changing,’’ Russell said. ‘‘Land is more expensive,’’ and housing is ‘‘more upscale.’’

Greene said some areas are probably up more than others.

‘‘Probably the west and the south end of the county are going to be hit the hardest, in my opinion, because of the new developments that have gone in those areas,’’ Greene said. But she added nearly all areas should see an increase.

‘‘There is new construction in the north area,’’ she said. ‘‘Spencer is going to be an up-and-coming place ... with the museum there.’’

Rowland said his numbers showed the strongest lift in the south and along N.C 150 west of Salisbury.

‘‘It has just been an economic upturn across the county, really.’’