Land is valued almost solely on sales and specific attributes. If town listers are conscientious, and most are, this process is done carefully for each home. The owner has a right, in law, to appeal the determination of value by the listers. If the owner is not satisfied with the response to this appeal, he can appeal to the Board of Civil Authority, or further to the State Appraiser or the Superior Court. This system of local appraisal, within a town, usually works very well.
Most listers are willing to examine their work and make changes when they make a mistake.
If owners do a small amount of work prior to a grievance hearing, presenting comparable properties to illustrate any errors they find in listing equity, local listers make a good faith effort to list equal houses at equal values. The problem comes with the statistical estimate made by DPVR of the Equalized Grand List. This estimate is made by comparing the listed value of a sold property with its sale price. A sale often is not typical of its category and, in any year, there may be no sales in a number of categories. But this doesn't stop the four or five people at DPVR who are charged by the legislature with equalizing the Grand List in 252 towns.