Property Tax/Assessed Value Appeal???

[Nennie]

Has anyone appealled their property tax/assement?

We were recently re-assessed, and have filed the appeal. We were told to bring our documentation to the appeal.

We are bringing:
1) Our purchase price when we purchased the home 2.5 years ago (with the argument that the market has not gone up since we purchased, and if anything has dropped)
2) Recent sale prices for similar homes
3) Active listing for similar homes

I wish we had more recent sales and active listings, but there aren't too many homes like ours (size wise and lot size wise). A lot of houses around here are small and on 15 acres...we are big and on only 1 acre.

Can anyone think of any other documentation we should be bringing with us to the appeal????

 

[mrsv98]

Has anyone appealled their property tax/assement?

We were recently re-assessed, and have filed the appeal. We were told to bring our documentation to the appeal.

We are bringing:
1) Our purchase price when we purchased the home 2.5 years ago (with the argument that the market has not gone up since we purchased, and if anything has dropped)
2) Recent sale prices for similar homes
3) Active listing for similar homes

I wish we had more recent sales and active listings, but there aren't too many homes like ours (size wise and lot size wise). A lot of houses around here are small and on 15 acres...we are big and on only 1 acre.

Can anyone think of any other documentation we should be bringing with us to the appeal????

Your best bet are comps in the area. When we first moved in, I appealed because our house was over-assessed and there were several mistakes in the description, for instance, it said we had a finished basement (which raises the assessment) and a couple of other things I can't remember. We were successful in getting it lowered then but I haven't been able to lower it anymore, darnit! We were able to do all of ours online which was really nice. Good luck!

 

[puffkin]

I just appealed mine in PA (you can only do it during the appeals window in the summer). I contacted my realtor and she gave me the comps in the area that sold during the last 6 months. I picked 3 similar to my home and then sent them in with the paperwork. I had to go to a hearing (all of 3 minutes) where they asked me a few basic questions about the house...if we had a finished basement, verified the bathrooms and bedrooms, etc. I got a notice in October that they lowered my assessment.

I think gathering the comps of sold houses is the best thing you can bring.

 

[Kae]

the value is not what your house is worth today you pay taxes in arrears. Next year it is based on today. Does that make any sense? there should be a date for the asessment.

Kae

 

[dis-happy]

In our last house, I had success by providing comps and also explaining to the assessor what our house did not have in comparison the other houses in our subdivision: no bonus room. Plus, the master bath was small, only one sink and a shower (as opposed to double sinks and an add'l tub). Made a point of saying that most buyers looking in our area expected those things and not having them brought down the value of our house.

I also priced out our square footage and price per square foot as compared to the other comps. However, that may not help you if your house is one of the larger ones (mine was one of the smaller in the neighborhood).

Assessor thanked me for being well prepared with facts and figures to back things up. He said that most people just rant about the assessed value being too high, but he couldn't change anything unless there was data to back it up. Good luck to you!

 

[mickeyboat]

We appealed and succeeded in getting our assessment lowered last summer. There were not many recently-sold homes in our area, so I compared our assessed value, square footage, age, etc., to the assessed value of other homes on our street.

It turns out that there were two mistakes in our assessment, and I didn't even need to argue with them or show them all my documentation. They lowered our assessment below where I asked them to.

Good luck!

 

[dawson5]

My mom is in the process of the appeal right now. They have hers with central air, more bathrooms and a finished basement. I know my brother is helping her out with the paperwork. I think she was going to take pictures of her home to prove no AC, the bathrooms, etc. Her property taxes are more than her house payment--she does the escrow for property taxes.

 

[Kathi OD]

the value is not what your house is worth today you pay taxes in arrears. Next year it is based on today. Does that make any sense? there should be a date for the asessment.

Kae

Not everywhere. Our house hasn't been assessed since it was built, so we're paying taxes based on its value from 1998. If it were reassessed today, the value would increase, but shouldn't increase to the amount we paid for it in 2005. If they reassessed based on our selling price, we'd be overvalued by about $100,000.

When some municipalities do reassessments they take more than a year to complete, so the home values can be out of date before the reassessed value actually takes effect. Also, some reassessments are based on faulty information.