What Do Assessors Do (including Their Typical Day At Work)

Job Description

Assessors appraise real and personal property to determine its fair value. May assess taxes in accordance with prescribed schedules. They also inspect new construction and major improvements to existing structures to determine values.

Other tasks include:

• Determine taxability and value of properties, using methods such as field inspection, structural measurement, calculation, sales analysis, market trend studies, and income and expense analysis.
• Prepare and maintain current data on each parcel assessed, including maps of boundaries, inventories of land and structures, property characteristics, and any applicable exemptions.
• Explain assessed values to property owners and defend appealed assessments at public hearings.
• Identify the ownership of each piece of taxable property.
• Calculate tax bills for properties by multiplying assessed values by jurisdiction tax rates.
• Inspect properties, considering factors such as market value, location, and building or replacement costs to determine appraisal value.

We asked Assessors how satisfied they are with their job. Here is what they said.

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72% of them said they were satisfied with their job and 41% said they find that their job makes the world a better place or helps to make someone else’s life better.

Typical Day At Work

On a daily basis, Assessors maintain familiarity with aspects of local real estate markets. They supervise staff members.

A typical day for an Assessor will also include:

• Prepare and maintain current data on each parcel assessed, including maps of boundaries, inventories of land and structures, property characteristics, and any applicable exemptions.
• Review information about transfers of property to ensure its accuracy, checking basic information on buyers, sellers, and sales prices and making corrections as necessary.
• Provide sales analyses to be used for equalization of school aid.
• Determine taxability and value of properties, using methods such as field inspection, structural measurement, calculation, sales analysis, market trend studies, and income and expense analysis.
• Calculate tax bills for properties by multiplying assessed values by jurisdiction tax rates.

We asked some Assessors a few questions to find out what else does their work day look like. Here is what we found.

	Do you have telephone conversations everyday in this job?	65% said yes
	How important is it to work in a team in this job?	29% said very important
	Do you have group discussions everyday in this job?	67% said yes
	Do you talk or work with customers everyday in this job?	59% said yes
	Do you have to deal with angry customers everyday in this job?	6% said yes
	Do you have to make decisions everyday in this job?	45% said yes

Other responsibilities

Besides their typical day, Assessors also explain assessed values to property owners and defend appealed assessments at public hearings. They may also explain real and personal property taxes to property owners.

On a weekly to monthly basis, Assessors Serve on assessment review boards. They might also Conduct regular reviews of property within jurisdictions to determine changes in property due to construction or demolition.

In addition, they Analyze trends in sales prices, construction costs, and rents, to assess property values or determine the accuracy of assessments.

Although specific duties may vary, many of them Calculate tax bills for properties by multiplying assessed values by jurisdiction tax rates.

To some Assessors, it is also their responsibility to Inspect new construction and major improvements to existing structures to determine values.

Working life

Less than 40 hours per week

Regular schedule like a 9 to 5

In a typical work week as an Assessor, you can expect to work less than 40 hours per week.

Is this right for me

People who are suitable for this job tends to like following set procedures and routines. They like working with data and details more than with ideas..

They also like starting up and carrying out projects. They like leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.

You can read more about these career personality types here.

Explore other careers

http://www.bls.gov/OOH/business-and-financial/appraisers-and-assessors-of-real-estate.htm

http://www.appraisers.org/

http://www.appraisalinstitute.org/

http://www.iaao.org/