Home values run spectrum at Lake Delhi

DELHI – It may be a vacation home mecca, but tax records show the houses around Lake Delhi are fairly evenly distributed between palatial palaces and humble abodes.

“We have the full spectrum, Delaware County Assessor Jodi Cahalan said Monday Aug. 2). She described the 830 homes in the Lake Delhi tax district that are taxed an additional $4 per $1,000 assessed valuation as a “real mixed bag.”

There are 103 homes on the lake with assessed valuations of more than $250,000 – six valued at more than $500,000, Cahalan said. Of course, that was before flooding July 24 damaged or destroyed about half of the 830 homes in the tax district.

After more than 15 inches of rain fell across the Maquoketa River watershed, floodwater overflowed the banks and overtopped an 88-year-old dam washing away about 200 feet of the earth-over-concrete portion. The concrete dam remains intact, according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, but the nine-mile lake on the Maquoketa River drained away once the privately-owned and operated dam was breached.

At the other end of the spectrum, Cahalan said there are 106 homes with assessed valuations of less than $25,000. Fifty of those homes sit on land the homeowners do not own, she said.

Many of those homes are manufactured homes, including older home – “What we used to refer to as mobile homes,” she said.

Cahalan also offered a disclaimer on the more pricey homes. None of the homes are valued at more than $600,000 because she has nothing to compare them against. Assessed valuations are 100 percent of the market value, she said, and the highest sale price paid for Delaware County residential home has been $525,000.

The assessed valuation of the tax district -- $122,160,800 – is about 8.5 percent of the county's total assessed valuation of $1,423,165,400, according to Cahalan.

About 200 of the Lake Delhi homeowners claim a homestead exemption, according to the Auditor's Office. That suggests those homes are primary residences. The rest are likely vacation homes that don't qualify for the property tax credit.

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