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Protested my Property Value Appriasal

spacejamz

spacejamz

Lifer

which equates to roughly a $300 reduction on my property tax bill (based on last year's millage rates)... :beer: for me....

People who don't do this and also don't file for their homestead exemptions when they are entitled are just throwing money away (homestead exemption is another $200-$300 savings off my tax bill)...

 
Originally posted by: franksta
They appraised ours for 13k more than we bought it for and I thought it was a good thing?
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your property tax amount is based on the appraised value times the tax rate...the higher the value, the higher the taxes...

Many times, the appraisal rate does not match the market value of the house (i.e, do you think you can sell for house for the appraised amount, which is $13k more in your case?)...when the appraised value is higher than the market value, you end up paying more taxes for no reason...

I would guess that most tax authorities get more money because they assume most people won't protest their appraisals...

 
I work in property assessment. I agree, anyone who finds their appraised / assessed value to be out of wack should definitely contact the local assessment body and have a proverbial kick at the can.

Accuracy & fairness is what we shoot for!
 
Originally posted by: spacejamz
Originally posted by: franksta
They appraised ours for 13k more than we bought it for and I thought it was a good thing?
Click to expand...

your property tax amount is based on the appraised value times the tax rate...the higher the value, the higher the taxes...

Many times, the appraisal rate does not match the market value of the house (i.e, do you think you can sell for house for the appraised amount, which is $13k more in your case?)...when the appraised value is higher than the market value, you end up paying more taxes for no reason...

I would guess that most tax authorities get more money because they assume most people won't protest their appraisals...
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I doubt it. Not sure how your system works, but here (Ontario, Canada), our company is paid a set fee for a certain term by the municipalities. Our function is to maintain the assessment roll and all property values. We don't make any more money if the values are higher, or any less if they are lower. The only way I could make a quick buck (shady & guaranteed to get you canned) would be to offer a property owner a lower value for a little kickback. I've never heard of this being done, but I can't see any other way we could turn high values into money in our pockets.

The problem in our region is we don't have enough staff to do the job properly. We spend all of our time "putting out fires", so to speak. In some cases, an assessment officer (or Property Inspector like myself) may only get to a property once. Ever. So 20 years later when the home has been improved on & renovated to the hilt, we still have the same old depreciated value on the property when in fact the market & renos dictate it should be much higher. Of course it works the other way as well - some properties are run down and the owner simply does not know how that due to the current value system, they are entitled to a reduction in assessed value.

Definitely important to all property owners! Get to know your local assessment body! It could and often does translate into tax savings.
 
Originally posted by: tm37
I was told that to get reassesed I need to get an appraisal. at $300 it ain't worth it for me
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That's lame! See, I'm not familiar with the system in the US. However, I would contend that you shouldn't have to a) do any legwork (unless it's a formal appeal being brought to an independent tribunal, in which case you are required to gather your own evidence supporting a lower value ie. sales in the area) or b) spend any money. Your municipality most likely pays someone to maintain their property values - if they are telling you that you need to spend money out of your own pocket for an APPRAISAL - that is just wack.

For starters, they might not even be using the same method of valuation! They might look at a few sales in the area, but the assessment body might have an entire database of sales which they use to perform (*among other methods) Multiple Regression Analysis in an effort to place estimations of value on the various elements of a property. In my experience, I have found appraisal values to be a bit on the high side. This may be partly due to the fact that most appraisals are done for insurance reasons - in these cases it is beneficial to the owner to be appraised higher (better coverage).

Anyone who has the time, explain how assessment works in the US. Does it vary from state to state? Is it government funded or done by private bodies?
 
Originally posted by: tm37
I was told that to get reassesed I need to get an appraisal. at $300 it ain't worth it for me
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You should receive an appraised value notice from your tax collector (in texas, this is done yearly)...when you receive that notice, there are options on how to protest this amount. I would guess that most people don't even read this document.

You do need to be able to justify why you think that appraisal amount is off. Most of the time, by checking out what other similar houses in your area are being assessed at. Mine was pretty easy because there is a brand new house with the same floor plan as ours that was being sold for $164k while our house was assesed at $173k. They lowered our assessed value to $164k.

Maybe your tax collector/tax appraiser has a website that you check out...

 
Our function is to maintain the assessment roll and all property values. We don't make any more money if the values are higher, or any less if they are lower
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this doesn't make sense (maybe cuz I'm not in Canana 🙂 )...

here in the US, let's say the tax rate is 0.05. If you have house that is appraised at $100k, his property tax would be $5k (100,000 x .05). If that same house was appraised at $120k, his property tax would be $6k (120,000 x .05) which would be an extra $1k in the tax collector's coffers. Any amount that the homeowner could reduce their appraised value will reduce their property tax amount which means the tax collector will get less money.

Hope this makes sense...
 
FL has a limited 3% maximum growth on appraised property value for the primary property/homestead exempt property. Seeing as how values have risen about 100% over 3 years, I don't think I have much chance of getting mine lowered. County's not really hurting anyway, people are cashing in left & right so they are collecting on the resales (which get appraised at a new value when it turns over to the new owner).

Only thing that irks me is that the builder got a bond with the county as part of the community to pay for a road extension and a park that anyone in the county can use, yet, only the homes in my community are paying for. That's like $500/yr on top of our taxes for ~20yrs. That was done via something they call a community development district and wasn't made known to us when we bought the home. Bastards.

 
Originally posted by: spacejamz
Our function is to maintain the assessment roll and all property values. We don't make any more money if the values are higher, or any less if they are lower
Click to expand...

this doesn't make sense (maybe cuz I'm not in Canana 🙂 )...

here in the US, let's say the tax rate is 0.05. If you have house that is appraised at $100k, his property tax would be $5k (100,000 x .05). If that same house was appraised at $120k, his property tax would be $6k (120,000 x .05) which would be an extra $1k in the tax collector's coffers. Any amount that the homeowner could reduce their appraised value will reduce their property tax amount which means the tax collector will get less money.

Hope this makes sense...
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It makes sense. It is basically the same system here. Assessed value x tax rate = property taxes (essentially). However, "tax collectors" is the key phrase in there. Here, tax revenues go to the municipalities, not us. We simply do our job for an agreed sum of money and period of time specified. So for example, today when I raise a commercial property value from 150,000 to 175,000, it translates into more property tax revenue for the municipality, but not our corporation. Of course, commercial / industrial is a completely different ballgame - the valuation method is largely based on construction costs of structures on the property.
 
Originally posted by: spacejamz
Our function is to maintain the assessment roll and all property values. We don't make any more money if the values are higher, or any less if they are lower
Click to expand...

this doesn't make sense (maybe cuz I'm not in Canana 🙂 )...

here in the US, let's say the tax rate is 0.05. If you have house that is appraised at $100k, his property tax would be $5k (100,000 x .05). If that same house was appraised at $120k, his property tax would be $6k (120,000 x .05) which would be an extra $1k in the tax collector's coffers. Any amount that the homeowner could reduce their appraised value will reduce their property tax amount which means the tax collector will get less money.

Hope this makes sense...
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That's not how it works in MI.

My house was appraised for over $180,000. My State equalized value is only $80,400 and my taxable value is only $71,650.

Technically the state equalized value should be half of the value on the open market, but I'm not going to complain. The guy next to me is selling his house for $30k over what my city thinks his house is worth.
Assessed Value (tentative SEV) is based on 50% of market value as required by state law. Although numerous factors are considered by the Assessor?s Office in arriving at the initial market value of a property, increases in market value from year to year are attributable to increased sale prices of properties in an assessing neighborhood as well as additions, remodeling, etc. These increases in market value result in an increase in assessed value (tentative SEV). The sale price of an individual property does not necessarily determine its market value and property is not assessed at 50% of a sale price. After the assessment rolls of local jurisdictions are reviewed and approved (the equalization process) by the County and State, the assessed values become the State Equalized Values. SEVs are not subject to a ?cap?.

2. Taxable Value is the value to which the millage rate is applied. Taxable Value is subject to a ?cap? and can be increased only by the amount of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) or 5%, whichever is lower. This results in another value called Capped Value. Taxable Value must be the lower of the SEV or Capped Value which is computed as:

Capped Value = (Prior Year's Taxable Value - Losses) x (the lower of 1.05 or the INFLATION RATE) + Additions.

Additions are all increases in value caused by new construction, remodeling, and the value of property that was exempt from taxes or not included on the assessment roll.

Losses are all decreases in value caused by the removal or destruction of property, or the value of property that has been exempted or removed from the assessment roll.

The Inflation Rate is the increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) which is provided to all taxing units by the State Tax Commission. The CPI usually changes annually.
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But keep in mind that when your appraisal value goes up, so does your equity. If you buy a house and the appraisal goes up like mine did, your equity goes up. So you can get closer to paying off 20% of the homes appraisal to get rid of the mortgage insurance banks are adding on these days....that's gonna save you some money every month.
 
Originally posted by: Scarpozzi
But keep in mind that when your appraisal value goes up, so does your equity. If you buy a house and the appraisal goes up like mine did, your equity goes up. So you can get closer to paying off 20% of the homes appraisal to get rid of the mortgage insurance banks are adding on these days....that's gonna save you some money every month.
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Most banks (the ones I've delt with) won't take off the PMI until you've paid down 20% of the original appraised/sale price, not the market price/appraised value. Thus in order to end the PMI you need to ReFi, which can have other costs associated. YMMV.

 
Heh - I have a piece of property adjacent to my house that we bought for $9K, just as an additional barrier between our closest neighbor. Two years later the state of GA passed a law regarding millage rates that forced counties to raise assessed values to keep revenues the same. The county assessed the property at $58K. I protested and offered to gladly sell the property to the county for that amount. They lowered it to $19K, which is still too high for really crappy land, but I didn't fight it further.
 
Originally posted by: SearchMaster
Heh - I have a piece of property adjacent to my house that we bought for $9K, just as an additional barrier between our closest neighbor. Two years later the state of GA passed a law regarding millage rates that forced counties to raise assessed values to keep revenues the same. The county assessed the property at $58K. I protested and offered to gladly sell the property to the county for that amount. They lowered it to $19K, which is still too high for really crappy land, but I didn't fight it further.
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You'd be surprised how many times property owners have asked me if I'd like to purchase their property for the assessed value... 😉
 
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