Various Economic Area Pretesting Activities

January XX, 2011

Name

Position

Name of Recorder of Deeds/County Clerk

Street Address

Town, State Zip

Dear XXXXX:

The Governments Division of the U.S. Census Bureau is conducting a study to determine the feasibility of collecting and producing national statistics on taxable property values and we need your help.

We are requesting your jurisdiction’s 2009 data of sales of real property. We plan to use your data and that of other jurisdictions from across the country to evaluate the accuracy and completeness of the data available from various sources, including third-party vendors. The insights provided by your data and the evaluation of the data sources will allow us to develop a survey of taxable property values that is most feasible and least burdensome to complete.

Your jurisdiction recorder of deeds (county clerk) office has been selected for this study to represent other entities of similar size to give us a reliable picture of the entire country. Your participation helps us to avoid the high cost of making this request to all jurisdictions in the country. The voluntary study is authorized by Title 13, United States Code, Section 161, and has been approved by the U. S. Office of Management and Budget (approval # 0607-0585).

Please provide the information that is available for all parcels for data for 2009 sales of real property, including, but not limited to:

1. Parcel ID

2. 2009 Sales Price

3. Sales Date

4. 2009 Parcel Use Class, as classified by your assessing authority

5. Parcel Address

Please return your data for 2009 sales of real property data by February 28, 2011. See attachment for return instructions.

Thank you for your assistance with this important study. If you have any questions, concerns, or feel this request has been misdirected, please contact us by email at [email protected] or by telephone at 1-800-XXX-XXXX.