No, not really. But my disheveled bungalow winds up in the below-average-appreciation column as Durham does their one-every-seven-years housing revaluations. So my tax bill, paltry as it is now, should go down in a year, maybe like $50!

2008 vs. 2001 valuation: +20.7% (+24.0% for all Durham residential properties)

2008 tax valuation vs. 9/2007 purchase price: +15.4%

And the second figure just means that my disheveled bungalow is indeed disheveled, and I can see how investing 15% of the purchase price into repairs would probably get it valued at the tax valuation. Of course, I have absolutely no idea how much my house is really worth, given the convoluted process by which I purchased my house.

Barry has a popular thread on this topic, for any non-Durhamites who don’t really know what I’m talking about.