RE blogger ticks off government official

Back on December 12th, fellow Realtor and blogger, Danilo Bogdanovic, posted this on his blog. This was basically a 'heads up' about a potential issue between assessed values on real property in relation to market value for the same thing.

Everyone knows that Loudoun County real estate property values have gone down significantly over the last several years, including 2007. For everyone's sake, I hope that the Loudoun County Tax Assessor realizes this as well when computing 2008 tax assessments. Everyone we've talked to in Loudoun County is upset about their assessed value and most are worried that their 2008 tax assessments will not be in line with their fair market value. The people who are even more upset are those who appealed their tax assessments earlier this year and were completely shot down without a good, if any explanation.

Yes, they're upset because they've lost market value. But why are they really upset? Because 2007 assessed values are up to 30 percent higher than current market values (non-foreclosures or short-sales) and they think that the Tax Assessor doesn't care. That means that Loudoun County residents are paying up to 30 percent more in taxes than they should.

In response, the Loudoun County Tax Assessor has thrown a fit and has threatened action against the blogger (see the threats here on this post). This whole thing is getting plenty of attention throughout the RE blogosphere because of the attack on free speech. Rightfully so.

Here is one of the best responses from another blogger towards the Louden County official.

One of the main reasons as to why I 'blog' is to attract some attention towards certain aspects buyers and sellers should consider when transacting business. It is likely that I would say the very same things to a potential client in person in my office (for example) that I say on this blog. This blog allows my thoughts to be shared in a very informal manner, a reader might stop by and use the information that is posted at his or her own convenience. I'm always striving towards sharing information so that others can decide.

There may be times when my thoughts that I share are incorrect, and by blogging, it has allowed readers and others to comment and maybe help me correct whatever it is that I am trying to communicate. And maybe this is what Danilo should have faced instead of the threats he received from the county official in Virginia. If the assessor would have instead posted on Danilo's blog in an effort to correct the information then everything would have turned out different. Instead the bloggers free speech was attacked... and most likely because Danilo wasn't wrong about anything.