I'm appealing our property taxes again! Update #3

[daughtersrus]

I'm so tired of this. Every year we get a reassessment notice on our house. Last year, I finally sat down and did all of the leg work needed to appeal them. I contacted our township assessor's office and after showing him comp houses in our neighborhood that were much lower than ours, he agreed and lowered the assessment.

Well, in the mail Sat we get a notice saying that they are raising ours again to bring them up to the current listings.

Once again, I go to the county site and pull the records of the homes that I comped ours to last year. Sure enough, they are the same as they were last year (one even went down very slightly).

With my papers in hand, I call the office. All the time I'm trying to be very nice because I want these people to help me. I explained to them everything and the lady tells me that although the houses are the exact same model as ours, we are located in phase 2 of the development and the other houses are in phase 1 so I can't use them. I calmly explain that although they are phase 1 which is generally less, they were built over a year after ours. We're talking about 20 year old houses so over time, things would have evened out anyway. I also pointed out the one of the houses is on the same street as ours and is only 4 house away. The other house is on the next street over and is only 8 houses from ours.

Again, they say that we need to comp them to houses in our phase. I asked how they determine that value and they said that it's based on sales for the last 3 years. I then asked them which homes sold in 2006, 2007 and 2008 (these are the years that they are using). I was told that no houses in our area sold in 07 or 08. They gave me the property ID# of the houses that sold in 06 and guess what, they're in phase 1 of the subdivision and not phase 2 likes ours!

I then asked for them to explain to me how they can use the sales figures from a different phase but I can't comp my house to that same phase. They had no explanation at all.

I told them that all I want is for someone to show me how two houses in the same subdivision 4 and 8 houses from each other can have a "fair market" value difference of over $40,000! (We're talking houses that valued in the mid to high $200,000s). Again, they had no explanation.

I don't mind paying my fair share but when my tax bill is over $1,000 more than the same model house just a few away from ours, I mad!

It looks like I have to file a formal appeal with the county and ask for a hearing.



Thanks for letting me vent!

 

[Normangirls]

They aren't going to know what hit them!

You GO!

 

[daughtersrus]

I won!

I didn't actually file a formal appeal but I went down to the assessor's office with my papers in hand.

I asked them to explain how they arrived at the figures for the properties that I was comparing ours to. They gave me a song and dance and side stepped the questions but they offered to reduce our assessment down to $1,000 less than we were assessed for the last year.! While it's still a little higher than the two houses that I was comparing ours to, it's $10,000 less than what they were reassessing us at. (The assessed value is 1/3 of the "market value" so they brought it down $30,000! )I ran the rough numbers and if our tax rate stays the same, the difference between what it would have been with the reassessed value and what it will be with the value that they agreed to bring it down to is almost $700.00!

Well worth the time that I spent.

 

[mumom95]

You know what. In my old age (I'm 36), I've come to realize that insurance companies, credit card companies and the government are initially going to try to screw people over, and only when people then question it do they actually do the right thing (and usually you have to question it multiple times).

 

[DISNEY1975]

I have no idea where you live, but here in Massachusetts, its very hard to find a property tax less than $2500.

There are plenty of homes on the same street, even next to eachother that could have a difference of $50K or more. Maybe one has an extra bath, finished basement, media room, granite and hardwood all around, gas fireplace, skylights, larger yard, corner lot etc..etc...etc..

I added a wrap around deck to my house a few years ago and it raised the value $15K.

Our property tax rose $60 this year even though the value of our house dropped over the last year. Ill take the $60 over the usual $300 increase.

 

[daughtersrus]

I have no idea where you live, but here in Massachusetts, its very hard to find a property tax less than $2500.

There are plenty of homes on the same street, even next to eachother that could have a difference of $50K or more. Maybe one has an extra bath, finished basement, media room, granite and hardwood all around, gas fireplace, skylights, larger yard, corner lot etc..etc...etc..

I added a wrap around deck to my house a few years ago and it raised the value $15K.

Our property tax rose $60 this year even though the value of our house dropped over the last year. Ill take the $60 over the usual $300 increase.

I'm in a western suburb of Chicago. In our subdivision, the homes were all built by the same builder. There were different models to choose from but the homes that I compared mine to are exactly the same as mine. Same square footage, basement, same # of bedrooms, baths,...

Our property taxes are close to $6,000 for the year. Had I not challenged the reassessment, they would have increased by about an additional $700.

As I told the girls in the assessor's office today, I don't mind paying my fair share but I needed someone to explain to me how they determined that the "fair market" value of my house was over $40,000 more than the other 2 houses that are within 1 1/2 blocks from mine. Of course they couldn't do that so I think that is why they lowered mine without it going to a formal appeal with the county.

At this point, I just glad to have know that my bill next year isn't going to be as high as it could have. (We pay 1/2 June 1st and the second 1/2 Sept 1st).

 

[DISNEY1975]

I'm in a western suburb of Chicago. In our subdivision, the homes were all built by the same builder. There were different models to choose from but the homes that I compared mine to are exactly the same as mine. Same square footage, basement, same # of bedrooms, baths,...

Our property taxes are close to $6,000 for the year. Had I not challenged the reassessment, they would have increased by about an additional $700.

As I told the girls in the assessor's office today, I don't mind paying my fair share but I needed someone to explain to me how they determined that the "fair market" value of my house was over $40,000 more than the other 2 houses that are within 1 1/2 blocks from mine. Of course they couldn't do that so I think that is why they lowered mine without it going to a formal appeal with the county.

At this point, I just glad to have know that my bill next year isn't going to be as high as it could have. (We pay 1/2 June 1st and the second 1/2 Sept 1st).

I get it now! I thought your property tax was $700 and you were upset!

Over 6K..I feel way better about my $4400