PENDER COUNTY — Starting next week, officials will be going door to door in Pender County appraising the value of its homes.
READ MORE: Pender County bumps next tax revaluation to 2026, cuts time between future appraisals
The Pender County Tax Department is kicking off its field work for the 2026 countywide revaluation on county properties. Staff will update the property characteristics of more than 54,000 county parcels including residential, commercial, agricultural, and industrial land.
Starting Jan. 15, field appraisers will visit every home to measure each property structure and take updated photos; they will knock on doors in an attempt to reach the homeowner or leave behind information. All homes visited will have receive a red door hanger with contact information for the county.
If a homeowner is absent or the property is fenced, appraisers will use satellite images to evaluate the land.
Some properties may need to be visited more than once throughout the year for various reasons, including taking note of any improvements made to the property as a result of permits obtained. Homes will be visited again sometime in the next 12 to 14 months, prior to the reappraisal year.
“We apologize if this causes any inconvenience, but to ensure properties are appropriately valued, we need to conduct these visits separately for the current tax year and the reappraisal year,” Pender County spokesperson Brandi Cobb wrote in a release.
Members of the reappraisal team can be identified by the following:
- Vehicle marked with the Pender County logo
- Wearing high-visibility vests with the Pender County logo
- Carrying Pender County-issued identification badges
“My goal for the 2026 tax reappraisal is transparency and to ensure taxpayers are provided with the information they need to understand the process,” Tax Administrator Melissa Radke said in a press release. “The reappraisal is not a tax rate increase. The tax rate is set during the annual budget and is set by the Board of County Commissioners.”
As it stands, Pender has the 30th highest tax rate in the state, out of 100 counties.
How much property tax changes after a revaluation depend on the results of the revaluation and then the tax rates set by counties and municipalities.
Brunswick County lowered its tax rate by 13 cents in the wake of its latest revaluation to offset some of 55% median increases. Some municipalities, like Oak Island and Boiling Spring Lakes followed suit, while others left their rates the same or slightly decreased them such as Leland and Navassa.
Pender County Board of Commissioners voted in September to bump up its timeline for reappraisal, originally scheduled for 2027. Radke told commissioners moving up the revaluation ensures tax values are more comparable to market values and a four-year cycle makes more sense for the rapidly growing area.
State law requires counties to reappraise properties at least once every eight years to verify tax information is accurate.
Pender County’s next reappraisal will be effective as of Jan. 1, 2026. The new tax values will be reflected in 2026 tax bills.
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