Indian River County Property Appraiser Wesley Davis is proud of his office’s new website, likening his affection for it to a father’s love for a newborn baby.
And in a county where real estate is as big a part of the economy as it is here, the expanded and improved site is well worth taking note of.
To make people aware of the website, Davis is in the midst of what he calls “a roadshow” that will continue through July and August, demonstrating a wide array of new features and capabilities to individual real estate offices, homeowners associations, bankers groups, insurance agents and others who frequently need detailed information about land, homes and commercial property.
On Thursday morning, Davis made a presentation to the Treasure Coast Builders Association at the organization’s monthly meeting at CJ Cannon’s restaurant at Vero Beach Regional Airport.
Among the features he pointed out were a geolocation capability that a realtor, builder, homebuyer or any interested person can activate by going to the new site on a smartphone and clicking a tab that instantly brings up an aerial photo of the place they are.
They can then click on the property they are interested in, whether the address is posted or not, and immediately see the property card for the land and/or house, which includes information about acreage, value, taxes, past sales and when a house or commercial building was built, along with other details.
If someone like a developer wants additional information about the land, the property deed and plat can be pulled up at the click of a button without leaving the site.
There’s also a feature that will be handy for realtors and homebuyers that – again, with one click – shows recent sales of nearby property, by month and year.
“My goal is to make everything, or as many things as possible, one click,” Davis told the Builders Association.
All the new data on the site is public information that can be accessed at other Web locations but that now is instantly accessible through live links without leaving the property appraiser site. “We are the Google of property in Indian River County,” said Don Biscoe, Davis’ IT director.
The new site has been up in beta since April, alongside the old property appraiser website, but it now has gone fully live, replacing the old site.
Davis got the technology for a bargain price, because the system already existed and was in use in 28 other Florida counties.
“A custom site with these features would cost upwards of a quarter million dollars,” Davis said. “We got this for $44,000.”
As part of its service, the IT provider produces detailed analytics that show there have been 232,000 visits to the site since it became available in April.
According to the IT data, the many one-click features on the site have saved thousands of hours in staff time so far, by enabling Davis’ employees to find information faster when responding to resident questions or carrying out other duties.
The site and property appraiser records are backed up in the cloud to protect data against hacking attacks.
“It is not a question of whether we will be hacked,” Davis said. “It is a question of when, and we have taken redundant precautions.”
Davis was appointed to his office by then Gov. Rick Scott in January 2019 after former property appraiser David Nolte died in office. He was elected to a full four-year term in November.
He said he was inspired to upgrade his office’s website when he looked at the property appraiser websites in St. Lucie and Brevard counties, which he saw as better and more functional than Indian River’s site.
His next presentation about the site will be at the Realtors Association of Indian River County on July 20, followed by a talk at the Taxpayers’ Association of Indian River County.
“I am going to keep this up,” Davis said, naming half a dozen other upcoming presentations he has scheduled to fill people in on the virtues of his “baby.”
You can check out the revamped website here: https://www.ircpa.org/