Some property values rise despite fires

BASTROP, Texas (KXAN) - Out on Pine Shadows Lane in Bastrop, there are not many pines left. Shadows are hard to come by, too. 

For 31-year-old Troy Woodland, all that is left among the ashes and rubble are memories of what was the family home where he had planned to end his days.

“It had two living rooms with two fireplaces,” said Woodland, describing his now former home. “(It had) three bedrooms, two bath, humongous kitchen, humongous dining room.”

Woodland and his family were among some 1,700 in Bastrop County who lost their homes to the wildfires that flared up exactly one year ago. All that remains of the Woodlands’ home and property is a scorched earth and piles of charred debris.

• Bastrop residents say 'Thank you'

So, imagine Woodland’s surprise when the appraised value of his land, along with his property taxes, actually went up. 

“You know, I have other things that are higher priority for me than having to worry about property taxes going up every year, especially on a property that I feel for the most part is destroyed,” said Woodland.

Troy and his wife Holly were in the middle of a cookout when the fire ravaged their property and home. They were able to escape with their two daughters, but nothing else. Evacuated for 11 days, the Woodlands were unaware they had lost everything single thing they owned until they finally allowed to return to their property. 

Woodland was devastated.

“I mean, and then you start realizing, ‘Wow, I don't have socks,'” Woodland told KXAN. “Imagine if someone came over and stole everything you had."

And he means "everything." 

His home with that humongous kitchen and dining room, his deck, his yard where his two daughters played were all stolen by the fire. He also lost two cars to the blaze, once of which burned so hot the transmission melted and flowed in to what used to be a creek running through his property. 

Bastrop Central Appraisal District’s chief appraiser, Mark Boehnke, says it’s been a tough year for his office, too.  His employees were out with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and first responders as early as day two of the fire assessing the damage while some of their own homes and property had burned. 

So how could a piece of land could increase in value after the land, trees and everything on it burned in the fire?

“We confirmed some sales that occurred after the fire and up until the first of the year and they were selling for more than we had them appraised back in 2011,” Boehnke said

That means Woodland's land isn’t the only piece of property that went up in value. The KXAN investigation found every property owner in Woodland's charred neighborhood saw their land value increase. As it turns out, Woodland’s neighborhood, Section 12 of Pine Forest, is the only section that allows manufactured homes and site-built homes. 

A review of appraisal records and sales data provided by BCAD confirms 10 of the 85 lots in Pine Forest have sold, mostly for higher prices than the 2011 appraisals prior to the fire. And since appraisal districts use comparable sales to help set appraisals, Woodland's land value, thus his property taxes on the land, went up. 

The five taxing districts in Bastrop, which include the city, county, and school districts, decided against a reappraisal, which is allowed by law following a natural disaster. Instead, the entities opted to waive permit fees and other costs to help homeowners rebuild.

The Bastrop Central Appraisal District says, overall, appraisal values across the county are down. In fact, for 2012, all homeowners with property in the affected fire zone received a one-time, across-the-board, 25-percent decrease in property values whether their homes were burned or not.

Like most in the community of Bastrop, Woodland and his family are rebuilding their lives. They've found a new home in Hays County but letting go of that country living in Bastrop isn’t easy.

“It makes it very difficult for me to say, ‘Well, I'm just going to sell it and it’s just going to be a chapter that I'm going to close in the book of my life,'” Woodland said. “Or should I keep it and once our kids are grown-up and moved on, rebuild out here and get back to country living?"

Woodland has done his own valuation of his charred land and to him it’s actually worth much more than the increase from the appraisal district because somewhere among all of those ashes is his wedding ring.