filing property tax grievance

[meltdown75]

The worst part was the privatization. Same thing with Terradata. Fucking blow through millions then sell it off for a song.

i agree, i don't think certain bodies should ever be privatized... kept seperate from municipal influence yes, although we serve the muns and that is our main job - to maintain the assessment roles. but due to the fact that we work with such sensitive matters, ie. property taxes, it makes little sense to privatize us.

as it is, we are doing the same function as when we were under the Ministry of Finance, but now we have a bottom line...... doesn't make any sense.

 

[sdifox]

and FWIW the complaints are less than 2% provincewide. over 4.5 million properties. mass appraisal is not an exact science. in fact we rely on the public to bring complaints forward because it helps us to achieve more accurate values. every property is unique - we don't have the time or staff to do an independent study on each one of them but are more than happy to do so, should someone come forward with a complaint.

for my part, for my areas and property types, i do a f*cking awesome job and i love my place of work.

Here is my personal experience. I bought a house for 277k. The assessment comes 6 month later at 400k. On the assessment document was the last sale (to me) price with the date on it... And apparently this is supposed to be market value. Wouldn't my purchase price be the market value?

So fine, they missed that. I file re-assessment and they lowered it to 340k though it should be closer to 300 if anything. I did not feel like fighting again so I let it go.

Next year it came back at 450k... and I couldn't use the purchase value as justification...

 

[meltdown75]

Here is my personal experience. I bought a house for 277k. The assessment comes 6 month later at 400k. On the assessment document was the last sale (to me) price with the date on it... And apparently this is supposed to be market value. Wouldn't my purchase price be the market value?

So fine, they missed that. I file re-assessment and they lowered it to 340k though it should be closer to 300 if anything. I did not feel like fighting again so I let it go.

Next year it came back at 450k... and I couldn't use the purchase value as justification...

one sale does not make a market.

having said that, you should have maybe taken it to the ARB. only there, if MPAC cannot back up the value with legit comps and sales, can the chairman match the assessment to the sale. Even we can't do that.

 

[sdifox]

one sale does not make a market.

having said that, you should have maybe taken it to the ARB. only there, if MPAC cannot back up the value with legit comps and sales, can the chairman match the assessment to the sale. Even we can't do that.

Lol, every single piece of paper MPAC put out claims it to be approximately what the house would sell for in the current market. Essentially they valued my stucco house to be the same value as a neighbour's white (lime?) stone house.

Hopefully this go around is better.

 

[DrPizza]

Wow, good luck with that sdifox. My first assessment was for the same amount I purchased the house for. I purchased it as a foreclosure. It sat on the market for a couple of years because no one could get financing for it - all of the hot water baseboard pipes had burst during the winter after they shut off the furnace. It's next to impossible in the northeast to get a bank to finance a house without central heat.

And I still don't have central heat. Damn it! I'm depressing my home's market value!

 

[alkemyst]

Usually on the tax bill there is a checkbox to request a review/etc.

 

[sdifox]

Wow, good luck with that sdifox. My first assessment was for the same amount I purchased the house for. I purchased it as a foreclosure. It sat on the market for a couple of years because no one could get financing for it - all of the hot water baseboard pipes had burst during the winter after they shut off the furnace. It's next to impossible in the northeast to get a bank to finance a house without central heat.

And I still don't have central heat. Damn it! I'm depressing my home's market value!

I wouldn't have too much problem if the increase is proportional. So the market in this subdivision went up 10%, everyone's value goes up 10%, fine. But the average of my subdivision was like 15% while mine is like 1/3

 

[JS80]

Do you own a plane?

 

[meltdown75]

Lol, every single piece of paper MPAC put out claims it to be approximately what the house would sell for in the current market. Essentially they valued my stucco house to be the same value as a neighbour's white (lime?) stone house.

Hopefully this go around is better.

i hope it works out for you dude. the next reassessment isn't until 2013. everything now is based on the 2008 current value assessment, and the rolls are frozen. Any increases from the 2005 CVA are phased in over 4 years. were there any special circumstances surrounding the sale? i'd be interested to hear the details of the sale, although i respect this is an open forum and maybe not the best place for such a discussion.

 

[sdifox]

i hope it works out for you dude. the next reassessment isn't until 2013. everything now is based on the 2008 current value assessment, and the rolls are frozen. Any increases from the 2005 CVA are phased in over 4 years. were there any special circumstances surrounding the sale? i'd be interested to hear the details of the sale, although i respect this is an open forum and maybe not the best place for such a discussion.

nope, not foreclosure or anything like that. It sat on the market for like 6 month because the owners didn't bother to change the paint colour on the wall and they did not maintain the house properly.