MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 448 

 Table 4. — Valuations Most Commonly Used in Assessing Houses. 



* 17 values. 



scarcely claim capacity for valuations at anything nearer than 10 percent of 

 the figure that should be used. 



The data, being on a state basis, do not lend themselves to consideration 

 from the town point of view, the assessing area. It seems rather likely that other 

 houses in a town enter into the process of valuing a particular house; houses on 

 adjacent farms being used as a standard of comparison, or similar houses in 

 different parts of the town. The structure of valuations is highly interwoven. 



Seventy-two different values were used in assessing the houses in the $200 to 

 $5000 range. Seventeen or 26.6 percent of the values accounted for 253 or 64.7 

 percent of the houses. 



Land Valuations 



Land was assessed at values which ranged from $1 to $1625 per acre. On 

 1197 parcels there were 153 different values per acre and the values were in 

 continuous series from $1 to $62 beyond which eight gc ps of a dollar each occurred 

 to $100 and thereafter more frequently, irregularly, and in varying amounts. 



Tne most common value was $10 per acre; the modal class of values was $10 

 to $19 per acre; and over half the values were below $30 per acre. 



Table 5. — Schedule of Most Commonly Used Valuations per Acre. 



The regularity with which some values per acre recurred suggests that inten- 

 tionally or not assessors applied a value per acre to a given acreage to get the 

 parcel value for assessment purposes. On the basis of derived values, the valua- 

 tion schedule shown in Table 6 was developed. The rates listed accounted for 

 38.5 percent of all parcels valued. 



The picture of land values which one can draw from the schedule may not be 

 too far from reality although it has some blotches which need to be studied 

 further in order to explain them. Some of the apparent irregularity may be 

 accounted for by sampling vagaries; some of them are undoubtedly man-made, 

 such for example as the bulking at $20, $50, and $100 after the "curve" had 

 turned downward at $10. 



