What is Mass Appraisal?

The City of Fargo Assessment Department utilizes mass appraisal techniques to value property. This method measures one class (e.g. single family, one-story home) of property against all recent sales in similar neighborhoods to calculate an appraisal. This differs from a more commonly known “fee” or “bank” appraisal which utilizes three comparable sales to calculate an appraisal.

Every year, the Assessment Department selects an area in the city in need of reappraisal. For those, staff appraisers and data collectors inspect each property and perform a new appraisal on each.

The department also tracks and analyzes property sales to determine if assessment values are in line with amounts at which properties are selling. If not, values are adjusted as necessary.