This Web site contains information provided by the Dallas Central Appraisal District (DCAD). On its Web site, DCAD makes the disclaimer that its online data is for “informational purposes only” and that “title research should be performed at the appropriate County Clerk's office.” DCAD continues by stating that the information should not be, “deemed a legal document.”

All of the information contained within this Web site was provided to FOX4 by the Dallas Central Appraisal District (DCAD) as a public record. DCAD compiled the information from its own resources, the Multiple Listing Service and from a report it commissioned from Professor Jim Murdoch at the University of Texas at Dallas.

All data contained within this Web site is exactly as provided by DCAD, with the following exceptions.

1) The “2007 Market Adjusted Value” reflects DCAD’s total assessed value for 2007 minus any improvements made during the previous year, which is reflected in the field, “Total Contributed Amount.” DCAD suggested this method as the best way to calculate the value change of the property based entirely on market conditions and not on improvements made during the year.

2) As part of his report commissioned by DCAD, Professor Jim Murdoch came up with a ratio for each of the properties he studied. The ratio reflects his opinion on how close DCAD’s valuation comes to actual market value. Murdoch’s ratios range from .5 to 1.5. .5 would mean that it was Murdoch’s opinion that DCAD’s valuation of a property was fifty percent too low. 1.5 would mean that it was Murdoch’s opinion that DCAD’s valuation of a property was fifty percent too high.

3) If Murdoch’s ratio ranged from a tenth a percent below market value to a tenth-of- a-percent above market value, we wrote that it was his opinion the DCAD’s valuation of the property was; “AT MARKET VALUE.” If Murdoch’s ratio was more than a tenth of a percent over market value, we wrote that it was his opinion that DCAD’s valuation of the property was; “TOO HIGH” by whatever percent Murdoch felt it was overvalued. If Murdoch’s ratio was more than a tenth of a percent below market value, we wrote that it was his opinion that DCAD’s valuation of the property was: “TOO LOW” by whatever percent Murdoch felt it was undervalued. (We followed the same strategy with both Murdoch’s 2006 and 2007 ratio studies.) (LINK to Murdoch Methodology)

4) “Percent Change” between 2006 and 2007 was developed using this formula: ((2007 Market Adjusted Value – 2006 Total Value)/2006 Total Value)*100

5) “DCAD Value Change” puts into words the change DCAD made to the property’s value due to market conditions: if percent change equaled 0, we wrote DCAD “DID NOT CHANGE THE VALUE”, if percent change was greater than zero, we wrote DCAD “RAISED THE VALUE”, and if percent was less than zero, we wrote DCAD “DROPPED THE VALUE”

6) “Total Number Properties in Neighborhood” is a count of all the properties possessing identical neighborhood codes assigned by DCAD.

7) “Properties Sold” is a count of all properties with the same DCAD neighborhood code that were sold between 7/21/2006 and 3/31/2007 as recorded by the Multiple Listing Service.

8) “Percent of Properties Sold” is “Properties Sold” divided by “Total Number of Properties” times 100.