The tax value and market value of your home are important numbers to know. Tax value is important since it's the basis for calculating annual property taxes, while market value is crucial for homeowners looking to sell in the near future. Tax value and market value are two different values, and while it's possible that the fair market value exactly matches the tax value, that's actually pretty rare.

 The market value of your home is what buyers would realistically pay for the home based on recent sales of similar houses in a tightly confined area surrounding your home. Style, features, upgrades, neighborhood, access to transportation and infrastructure, entertainment/social amenities all factor into market value. It's actually a much more complex and customized process than the mass appraisal the city/county does every few years to arrive at the "tax value".

 Tax value is a much more generalized estimate and doesn't take unique, specific features, cosmetics, styles, any interior condition of a house into account. The tax value is important because it determines the value that will be used to calculate the annual property tax bill, but market value is what potential sellers need to know. Market value only matters when you're looking to sell, tax value affects you every year.

  The reason I bring up these two values, is that the Charlotte Observer actually has an interactive map that offers a pretty cool visual insight into Mecklenburg County's recent home sales compared to tax values. Some areas sold for significantly more than tax value, some sold for close to tax value, and some sold for less.  The map (in my opinion) does give an easy to read illustration of the departure from tax value that is market value.