I recently received a notice that the assessed valuation of my townhouse is going up by 81%, so all other factors being equal, my property taxes are taking an 81% hike as well. As I was given the opportunity to appeal it, I did, but I’m thinking I may have to do more than just say ‘I appeal it!’
How does John Q. Public go about defending an appeal of a property tax increase? Any help from the Teeming Masses?
You need to find out if this was a general revaluation or just specific to your home. Many locals reassess properties every 10 years or so. If it was a general reassessment then the mill rate should drop for all taxpayers.
To appeal an assessment you need to determine what similiar properties were assessed for in your community. You can find this information at your town hall. The assessor should be able to provide you with a brochure or pamphlet that describes the appeals process.
If you are not able (because of time or resources)to determine how your home was assessed relative to similiar properties, appraisers will provide this for you (for a fee). If you have a friend that is a realtor, they may be able to provide some information to you.
Generally, how this works is that you talk to the assessor first. If we does not agree with any of your points, you file a written appeal. There is probably a Assessor Review Board composed of other town residents (or sometimes political hacks) that will schedule a time for you to come in and present your cases. After that it would be off to the courts.
Call the authority in charge of appraisals in your area. Even something as basic as how appraisals are done will depend on where you live. Get the info for your area.
Here in Texas, the methods of appraisal and how to file a protest are mailed with the appraisal notices. My experience is that just saying that there’s no way that your property could be worth 81% more than it was last year won’t work. The year after we bought, I got the appraised value dropped to the purchase price (that this wasn’t done automatically told me that we’d have problems with these guys.) Since then, I have successfully protested increases by countering their claims of improvements (thirty dollars worth of roses does not make a home worth $14,000.00 more!), pointing out defects, and by comparing the house to other homes in the area.
If you’re going to appeal an assessment, you’re going to have to do some work.
Now, I’ll state up front that I don’t know the local laws and rules where you live, so this might not be useful to you. I’m also going to assume no downward change in the mill rate in your location, so your assessment increase will hit you hard in the pocketbook, and you have a good reason to appeal.
First of all, ask the assessor how he or she arrived at that figure. It may well be that the house has not been assessed for years, or that some owner before you made some improvement that wasn’t inspected until recently, or some such. It is unlikely that the assessor will lower the assessment at this stage; but you should know (heck, you have a right to know) what happened to create the higher assessment.
Then find out about similar homes in your neighbourhood. You said you lived in a townhouse, so that makes things simpler–you can assume that most of the units are pretty much alike. But do a little work and find out anyway.
From a realtor (or perhaps city hall or the assessors themselves), you should be able to get information on all aspects of the units in your neighbourhood–size of lots, plumbing details, electrical details, construction techniques–all that stuff. Use the information to see if other units are physically different from yours. If so, how much? A new flower garden won’t make a difference, but an extra four-piece bathroom or a new front porch will.
What are the assessments of the other units? Are they about the same as your old one (in which case, you’ve got a pretty good argument) or about the same as the new one (in which case, you don’t have much of an argument)? This information should be publicly available at the registry office or the city hall.
If it all checks out–that is, your neighbours have the same unit as you, or perhaps more improved units, but are assessed at around your older value, you’re ready to head for Assessment Review. It will be much like you can imagine–you tell your side of the story, and the assessors tell theirs, and the adjudicator makes a decision.
I’ve found that it can be worth it for John and Jane Public to appeal if they feel it is warranted. The adjudicator will often (though not always) cut the independent homeowner who does the homework and presents his or her own case some slack. Maybe not back to where the original assessment was, but anything is better than 81%.
Good luck!
Move.
In general, I think our tax structure - and the abhorrent amount of taxes we’re forced to pay - is patently immoral. But which tax can be considered the “worse”? Which is the most “immoral”?? My vote goes for property taxes.
Property taxes are “different” than most other taxes, in that you can never escape them. For example: let’s say you’re a law-abiding, independent, private person. Let’s also say you’ve amassed quite of bit of money over the years, and you choose to simply live off what you’ve saved. You pay cash for a piece of land in the country and build a house. You build a fence on the perimeter of your land and tell the outside world, “Leave me alone.” Theoretically, you could do this and pay little (if any) taxes, depending on how self-sufficient you were. You would be as close to being a sovereign being as one could be in this country. (You should be allowed to do this in a free country, IMHO.)
Ah wait, not so fast. Property taxes, remember? No matter how independent and/or private you wish to be, the government always has you by the gonads with property taxes.
In other words, it ain’t really your land. Disagree? Stop paying your property taxes. You’ll find out very soon whose land it really is.
One columnist (I believe it was Walter Williams) stated that property serve a dual purpose. On the one hand, they generate income for local schools and such. How nice. But they also have another, more sinister purpose: They keep the “Leave me alone” crowd from truly being left alone. If it weren’t for property taxes, a person could closely achieve the ideal of being a “sovereign, independent, self-sufficient being.” With this nifty tool, the government is able to force its slimy nose into your business, step on your land, evaluate your finances, etc.
Please note: I’m not some paranoid, wild-eyed freak. I pay property taxes and all the other !@#% taxes I’m forced at gunpoint to pay. I’m simply looking at the big picture, and how our freedoms and personal liberties are being flushed down the tubes before our very eyes. Governments and liberals hate the thought of someone being able survive beyond their clutches, and property taxes is just another one of their tools.
Crafter_Man, have you met pkbites?
As a commercial real estate agent I have done the occasional tax appeal for commercial real estate clients (mostly large manufacturing sites) and won reductions in all cases. So an appeal can be worthwhile.
Per the other posts information is key. Properties in my jurisdiction are re-assessed on a three year cycle so unless there are unusual circumstances an 81% asessment increase over the prior assessment in an economy where inflation has been running pretty low over the past several years had better have some extremely good, valid comparables and/or valuation rationale to back it up.
I would suggest a short form (ie basic) professional appraisal of your property (est) 300- 500 dollars would be a good investment. Going in front of the appeals board and saying “the realtor I talked to on the phone said” will not get you far. The county/city appraiser will try to indimidate you. Count on it. You need hard comparable value information.
Per the other posts you need to become educated about how your value is being determined and where your property reasonably falls in the value matrix.
Good Luck!
Few things increase my blood pressure more than the thought of property taxes. But thanks for letting me vent. I think I’ll have a beer now. 
Where are you?
In our city in california, there is a nifty thing called Proposition 90. What it says is that a senior citizen coming to our city pays the same property taxes as they did in the city before. Thus, this saves them a lot of money & the city gets lot less.
As a tax assessor, when someone simply says “I appeal it”, I simply say “I deny it”. My next sentence is usually, “What do you think it is worth, and how did you arrive at that figure”.
We assessors have done our best to value your property at its fair market value. If you have a reason to think that we’ve made a mistake, tell us why. Maybe your house is on a busy street; Maybe there is a swamp in your back yard that the assessors didn’t take into consideration. Maybe we think there are 4 bedrooms and you really only have 3. But if you give no reason, don’t expect anyone to take you too seriously.
If the town doesn’t reduce your assessed value to your satisfaction, you have the right to appeal to the state. But again, the burden of proof is on you to show that the town either (A) assessed your house above the real value or (B) your assessment is disproportionate to other houses in town.
Raising your value by 81% usually means other houses in town went up in value as well. To raise the same revenue, the tax rate will go down. The real issue is: did your house go up in value more than it should have.
Thanks for the advice.
I’ll proceed to get the info I’ll need & report back at the conclusion of the appeal.