Tax assessments are in - good times!

[wincrasher]

Got my property tax assessment in yesterday. Bought the house (new, never lived in) in 2009 for $342k. There was no assessment value last year, so it was taxed as a vacant lot. Assessor says that it's worth $447k now!

I checked all the homes in the neighborhood, seems to put me in the high-middle of the pack on the values, so from that aspect it would seem OK, but all the values could be skewed high.

My house sat on the market over a year before I bought it and even then I thought I probably overpaid. If I thought it would sell for $447k, I'd put in on the market tomorrow!

There is an appeals process, so I'll go ahead and fill it out. But I suspect it's like fighting city hall. At a time of budget cuts and lower revenues, I don't suspect they will lower it.

[KTP]

Actually there is a reasonable chance they will lower it if the current assessment does not reflect the house value. We had ours lowered with no problem.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Everyone I've ever heard of who challenged their assessment won.

[tulog]

To show the market value of your property, have a real estate broker or other professional give you a comparitive market analysis. This will include a valuation of your house based on the recent sales of 3 comparable properties in your area, and can be used as evidence for the market value you are claiming.

[minnie1928]

I fought my assessment earlier this year and lowered my bill by over $1800/yr! Total process took about 2 hours to do the research and organize all the comparable properties I was using.