Glossary

Comps

Comps is short for comparables: similar homes or lots the county sets next to yours so it can land on an approximate value for the tax side of the work. Same word sometimes shows up when people buy or sell; here it always means the county's own comparison list, not a bank appraisal for a loan and not a realtor packet.

The Comps PDF control links to the county comparables file on parcelsearch.arapahoegov.com. The county hosts this file. The link may say that no file was found. Per the Assessor's office: the website posts comparables for the current notice year only. A county system limitation keeps 2025 notices off the site. This is not a year when every property gets a full reassessment. A new file appears online only if your value changed from 2025 to 2026. If it did not change, your prior comparables still apply. Full notices for every parcel are expected after 2027 postcards go out, in late April or early May.

Land use code (LUC, comps grid)

LUC is the assessor's land use code. It captures how the property is classed for assessment (mostly residential subclasses on this worksheet). It is not the same as zoning.

Colorado publishes standard subclass codes with land/improvement code pairs assessors follow. Below are frequent residential examples (not every code in the state). Exact wording comes from Assessors' Library, Chapter 6: Property Classification (opens in a new tab).

Single-family: land 1112, improvement 1212
Duplex or triplex: land 1115, improvement 1215
Multi-family, 4 to 8 units: land 1120, improvement 1220
Multi-family, 9 units and up: land 1125, improvement 1225
Residential condominium (improvement): 1230
Manufactured home (example pairing): land 1135, improvement 1235

Your comps row should agree with your parcel classification in county records; if something looks off, verify on property search (opens in a new tab).

Valuation grade (comps grid)

Valuation grade is a county code for quality and overall condition together in the worksheet: materials, finishes, upkeep, and how the home compares to typical new construction in its class. It is not a school-style letter grade report card.

Loan appraisal reports (such as standardized single-family forms) often split quality and condition into separate ratings. Assessors' mass appraisal models commonly fold those ideas into fewer worksheet fields so comparisons stay consistent across many parcels.

Arapahoe's comps sheet does not publish a full plain-English ladder for every grade. For what a grade means on your parcel, ask the county or use materials tied to their appraisal system.

For CAMA vocabulary in Colorado practice, Assessors' Library Chapter 8: Assessment Planning (opens in a new tab) discusses computer-assisted mass appraisal and model-based work without replacing your county's own grading scale.

Property classification

How the county labels your property type for tax rules (which assessment rates apply). It is not zoning.

Common county labels:

Improvement means buildings or other structures on the land. Most homes with a house show this.
Real is often used for land or simpler real-property rows (many vacant lots). The same word can also appear in the separate Tax roll field below, so the two labels can look interchangeable even though they answer different questions.
Personal / PersProp means personal property (for example business equipment), not a typical house-and-land parcel.
StateAssessed means valued under state assessment rules instead of the usual county path.
Possessory covers possessory interests (for example some leases on public land).

Your notice may say Residential or Commercial while the county record says Improvement. Same parcel, two naming systems, not a sign something is wrong.

Tax roll is a different field from property classification. It names which tax roll the parcel sits on (often Real). Classification describes what is being assessed; Tax roll identifies the parcel's tax-roll category. Seeing Real in both places is common and does not mean they are the same field.

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