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Are You Entitled To A Property Tax Reduction
Posted by Lorraine Ross on June 23, 2008If you bought your house for $79,000 dollars nine years ago and have never done any work or repairs, is your property still worth the assessed value of $106,000? More than likely, the property is not worth that much for a home built in the early 1900’s. To be honest with yourself, you have to look at other houses with the same age and structure to see if you are paying to much money for property tax.
A property tax reduction is not as easy to obtain, as one would think. If a mortgage appraiser over exaggerated the fair market value price of your home so you could get the refinancing. Could this affect your assessed value? It might not play a big part in the assessed value, but it is considered when rendering the final assessment.
If your fair market value is $105,000 and it was overly appraised, when you try to sell it, you are going to lose money and still have a balance due on a mortgage payment. If a reputable appraiser says your property is only worth $80,000 then you are not going to receive $105,000 for that property. If you property taxes are assessed for a house worth $105,000 and the property is only worth $80,000 on the market, you need to find a tax reduction and quick. You are over paying your taxes by hundreds of dollars in most cases.
The best way to find the true value of your property is to have an appraiser come in, do a full inspection, and give you a report. If this report shows your property is lower than the assessed value and the fair market value, you have something to present to a taxing committee. If you avoid doing this, trying to sell a property that is over exaggerated in price is not going to be easy and when they see the property taxes, potential buyers could decide this is a bad deal.
You should always try to have an assessed value and a fair market value close in range. If it is, then your property taxes should be fair. If the values are extremely different, you need to rectify the issue as soon as you can or you will continue over paying the property taxes. Appealing the property tax bill is one way to see a property tax reduction.
A property tax reduction also comes from applying for a different status on your property tax bill. If you bought a two family home and converted it into a single-family home, you are entitled to a reduction in property taxes, only if you did not increase the value of the property. Single family and two family properties have different tax rates. You can have this adjusted by visiting the taxing authority and filling out the paperwork to change the classification of the property. Once this is accept by the committee, your property will be reassessed and a different tax rate will be used to determine your new property tax liability.
Nice to see some one giving something away that is worth something for a change. thanks for the info.
Often times the appraisal done for a property tax reduction is only the first part of the process. The appraiser, (speaking from experience as CT Certified Appraiser for 6 plus years,) can not properly represent you in front of the appeals board as an Appraiser. It goes against appraisal practices to advocate for a client and confuses the objectivity of an appraisal when perfomed in conjunction an appeal. So while the appraisal is a necesary componet to the process, it is not the alpha to omega of a tax reduction.
I always reccommend to my clients that they seek an attorney to represent them, or at least coach them to present for themselves in front of the board. If you would like more info please contact Shaun O’Rourke, who is an appraiser in my office and has been a member of the local Tax Assessment Appeals Board for many years. I’m sure that his perspective on this topic will prove helpful to those contemplating an appeal.
I think that County tax and appraisal people are going to have a lot more difficult time in the next year or two than they are accustomed to having. They were very quick to raise values when the market spiraled up in 2004, 5 and 6 (at least here in Central Florida!) and there was no great move to adjust millage rates downward - regardless of the hardship caused. Vacation home owners were not generally protected to the same extent as full time residents and saw their taxes more than double - many of them will be looking for a downward valuation in line with the market.
Oh no… I wasn’t aware about Tax reduction. Thanks for it. I still don’t own a house.. I am renting but getting informed about tax is another story. Thanks, really ;0
Tax reduction? Sometimes, I hate the government for too much tax they give to consumers like us. This article is very good. Thanks.
Many hundreds of thousands of people must be paying extra property taxes above and beyond the true value of their homes. The fact of the matter is that many are trying to dumb their houses as they are strapped for cash for different reasons and have not succeeded in selling their properties. This means that the actual worth of the property is much lower as money is not being made available for mortgages.
This article could save people lots of money.
Here in Orange County, Ca I have found that lowering your property tax has been fairly simple. Maybe it’s because homes in this area have declined more than 20%. If you live in the LA, San Diego or Orange County, Ca area; I recommend that you pull up the sales in your immediate are and go on line to the local tax assessors, complete the required forms and send everything in for a review. You can save money by being pro active.
Call your tax assessors today and try do not give up
Great info Lorraine! As the times get rough we need to save as much as we can on taxes!
@Benjamin - “I always recommend to my clients that they seek an attorney to represent them”
That is by far the smartest way to go about this.
Many homeowners are seeing property values decrease. Most are not seeing their assessed values decrease at nearly the same pace as the property values so protesting your taxes can save you money if done correctly.
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