Mendocino assessment board sets 5200 Blue Lake Road value at $230,000 after appeal hearing

The Mendocino County Assessment Appeals Board on April 20, 2025 set the fair market value of 5200 Blue Lake Road in Brooktrails at $230,000 after a contested assessment appeal filed by property owner Mark Blumenfeld.

The board announced its decision after reviewing appraisal evidence and testimony from both the assessor’s office and the appellant, then taking the matter under submission in closed session. The board said it relied on comparable sales and made an adjustment for a large garage on one comparable, arriving at the $230,000 valuation.

The decision matters because it determines the property’s assessed value for property tax purposes. The parties provided competing evidence about the property’s condition and appropriate comparables for a September 8, 2022 valuation date.

Bill Chapman, a Real Property Appraiser III with Mendocino County, testified for the assessor’s office that the assessor’s analysis originally produced a market value estimate of $310,000 using “good condition” comparables but that the office lowered its assessment after reviewing limited documentation submitted by the owner. Chapman told the board the assessor identified arm’s-length sales of “average condition” homes in the Brooktrails market supporting a fair market value of $255,000 as of Sept. 8, 2022, and that the assessor later offered $230,000 as its…