Carp--addendum

[achelois]

Just got a notice of 2011 property re-evaluation from the County.

Says property worth more than last re-evaluation.

Doubt I could get what they say it's worth if I tried to sell it. Two years ago when I refinanced, the appraisal was 10k less than this new valuation. Could it's value have gone up that much in two years or are they FOS?

I am near Raleigh. Wonder if it is worth appealing

[Sum Dum Gai]

Two years ago when I refinanced, the appraisal was 10k less than this new valuation. Could it's value have gone up that much in two years or are they FOS?

$5k a year in appreciation on a house sounds reasonable to me, as long as your local market is appreciating obviously. Then again, I live in the land of $250-500k houses, so 5k a year is 1-2%

[midjd]

I'd spend some time poking around Zillow and Trulia to see what prices look like around your area... then appeal if I still thought it was out of whack.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

How much is the tax difference between what it was and what it is?
Does it cost anything to appeal?

[Deleted]

Uh...sorry your house is worth more?

[phil5185]

The appraisal and the assessment are quite different in some counties, the assessment is used only for determining your tax rate.

When values crashed back in 2006, the county budget requirement didn't change - so your tax bill probably didn't go down. If your assessment dropped in half, they would double the millage (the rate) to arrive at the same answer for the tax bill.

Your appeal will work if your house valuation is out of line with the nearby comparables. But if all of the nearby houses are assessed at $10,000 over market appraisal value, then the number will stand. (The assessment is only a relative value, not an absolute value).

[achelois]

Sounds like my taxes will go up again. There is a brand new house three doors down that has been sitting empty for a year or so.

I don't think my house is worth more, Molly, just assessed more. The notice says it is supposed to be the true market value, though. I just don't see how that can be.

It doesn't cost anything to appeal so I may do that and attach copy of the appraisal. They could lower the assessment, let it stand or even raise it. Will have to talk to some neighbors and see if theirs was raised also.

Our housing market didn't bottom out like some, but neither is our area booming.

[CarolinaKat]

I'm in the area. If you look around at the listings (at least out east of you) many of them point out "Priced well below tax value" *headdesk*

[busymom]

Go ahead & appeal it (as long as it doesn't cost you anything to try). Assessed values dropped in our area, which was accurate because our home's value on the market dropped too. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. They're counting on you NOT appealing so they can keep their tax base higher. You can always get an appraisal from a local real estate agent & take it along for some "evidence".

[zibazinski]

Yes, I LOVE how my assessed value keeps going down but my taxes keep going up.

[bean29]

I am finishing some work in my basement right now. We have permits open. Assessor knocks on the door about every 6 months. I think my assessment is already for more than I can sell my house for when the whole basement is finished. The only comprables they have are new homes sold by builders with finished basement walk outs. The stats say new homes sell for more than existing homes by about a 20% permium.

I appeal almost every year and get nowhere. A co-worker told me to appeal to the state on the non-equitability or some such word of the assessments to other properties in the community. I will do this next go round.

Assessors are desperate for $$. They can not justify their existence if they don't bring in $$.

[Clifford]

Always appeal, even if they're right. This board is all about cost savings and budget reductions. Here's an opportunity.

[Deleted]

Do a quick calc based on how much is the difference in tax between the current assessed value and the market value and decide if it's worth the effort. I've successfully appealed my tax assessment on two different houses. For my AZ house it really wasn't worth it. (But I'm enough of a property geek to have enjoyed the work ). Net result for that drill was a $50 savings since they split the difference in values with me. The following year they dropped the assessment by 15%. I wish I could say that made me happy.

Carefully read your county's procedure on how to file a protest. Often they will not accept appraisals older than 6 months. And while I won't use the Z estimate from Zillow as an appraised value (only works in cookie cutter suburbs) the recent sales activity is a very good tool. You can use those recent comps along with what's currently for sale as support for your lower value.

Good luck.

[tskeeter]

The first step I would take is to find out the property tax regulations for my jurisdiction. They are sometimes kind of interesting. For example, in Nevada it is a state law that the assessed value of a home is based on the replacement cost, but with the caveat that a home can not be assessed at more than its market value. This requirement has been used quite successfully to challenge assessments over the past few years.

Another key element, that others have pointed out, is whether or not the assessed value of your home is comparable to others in the community. Since property assessment is not a science, it's probably not worth your effort to contest an assessment that varies by less than 10% from the comparables.

A consideration might be how much of the parcel value is assigned to land vs. buildings. Buildings decline in value over time, land does not wear out. I have noticed a trend in my area to assign more of the parcel value to land over the past few years to help keep assessed values higher.

Challenging your property tax assessment is frequently a good idea. It may only reduce your tax bill by $100, but that's $100 for as long as you own the home.

[bean29]

I can get the comparable sales for the year from the assessor's office for about $.50. Then you go through and pick out the ones that are comparable to your house. The data from the assessors office gives you bed/bath and type of basement finish so you have a pretty good idea of comps. Then drive by and look at how big the lot is, landscaping, exterior finish, size of garage etc. I would not use Zillow it is useless in my area IMHO.

[iono1]

May 27, 2011 3:33:04 GMT -5 achelois said:

Sounds like my taxes will go up again. There is a brand new house three doors down that has been sitting empty for a year or so.

I don't think my house is worth more, Molly, just assessed more. The notice says it is supposed to be the true market value, though. I just don't see how that can be.

It doesn't cost anything to appeal so I may do that and attach copy of the appraisal. They could lower the assessment, let it stand or even raise it. Will have to talk to some neighbors and see if theirs was raised also.

Our housing market didn't bottom out like some, but neither is our area booming.

Before you attach that 2 year old appraisal, the 1st thing you have to find out is what the valuation date of the reassessment is. It's probably either current or last year, so that 2 year old appraisal does not match the valuation date. Just attaching that appraisal without defining the difference, if there is any, in the market between the 2 valuation dates will be insufficient.
If you're confident that the appraisal was representative of the value at the time it was made, you have some options. You can do some research on the Internet & find out how property values have changed since the original appraisal to the reassessment valuation date and time trend the value accordingly; if there is no data available, contact some real estate salespeople or appraisers and see if they can tell you the trends and steer you to some data you can use to prove the market at the reassessment valuation date. You can look for comparable sales in your neighborhood that match the valuation date, or if it's worth it, pay to get the property re-appraised to the reassessment valuation date.

The reassessment valuation date is really important. I live in NY State where (I know this will sound crazy, but these are the laws) most of the assessments are based on what was physically on the property on March 1st 2011, but the valuation date is July 1, 2010. I don't know what the rules are in NC-you have to find that out.

If you have viable evidence that the assessment at the valuation date is greater than 100% of market value, you should win, if you just provide a 2 year old appraisal without adjusting to the market conditions at the valuation date, you probably won't win.

[iono1]

May 27, 2011 9:04:14 GMT -5 bean29 said:

I am finishing some work in my basement right now. We have permits open. Assessor knocks on the door about every 6 months. I think my assessment is already for more than I can sell my house for when the whole basement is finished. The only comprables they have are new homes sold by builders with finished basement walk outs. The stats say new homes sell for more than existing homes by about a 20% premium.

I appeal almost every year and get nowhere. A co-worker told me to appeal to the state on the non-equitability or some such word of the assessments to other properties in the community. I will do this next go round.

Assessors are desperate for $$. They can not justify their existence if they don't bring in $$.

The last paragraph shows that you really don't understand what assessors do. They are not trying to generate money by keeping assessments high. Their job is equity. Some do it better than others. It doesn't matter what they do on an individual property. Whatever the total assessments are, the tax rate will be determined based on the total property values and how much revenue the municipality has to generate.
An incompetent, or unscrupulous assessor could very easily satisfy all the people by undervaluing all the properties and most owners would be satisfied. I've seen it done that way. However, the municipality still wouldn't lose a dime in taxes since taxes are still based on the municipality's budget. If the assessments are all too low, the tax rate will just be adjusted upward until the budget is met.
I'm not surprised you get nowhere every year with the assessor. They probably see you coming in and say "oh no, it's Bean again." If you present a credible case, they'd change your assessment. However if you come in with the attitude that the assessor is there to generate revenue at your expense, they're not going to want to deal with you. The more factual your case is, without getting into all the other stuff that the assessor has nothing to do with, the greater your chance of success.

I was never an assessor & never wanted to be one, but I worked over 30 years in the assessment field and I've seen what works and what doesn't.

[bean29]

Actually, I have gotten them to come down, just not as much as I expect them to come down. I was up around 326,000 at one point so they are down about $16,000. They won't let me argue that the same house down the street w/o out an exposure and no sale is assessed at 220 so my 310 is to high.

I do understand. I have never appealed to the state, but I plan to. I have not yet, because until my basement is done, they get a second chance to raise it. Once the basement finish is done, there will be few changes/chances for them to argue that the property changed and therefore they can raise the assessment.

If you go through my neighborhood there are several very large houses one about 3000 sq ft with extensive retaining walls, full exposure and in ground pool, 3 car+ garage and a second with a 4 car garage with a full basketball court underneath it and an in ground pool about 2400 sq ft with a full exposure that are assessed about the same as my 2070 sq ft ranch with a partial exposure and unfinished basement (and no swimming pool above or below ground) that are assessed pretty close to what mine is assessed at. I cant point at those assessments b/c they are 2 story houses. You can say all property is assessed at the same rate, but in our case we feel that somebody knows someone or someone paid someone for a lower assessment.

Assessment is based on science there is not inequity? That is why there is an appeal process because it is subjective. All politicians are honest, Law abiding, Bible toting family men until proven otherwise too.

[achelois]

Thanks, people. Looks like I have some legwork to do.

[iono1]

Bean, you're being way too conspiratorial. I seriously doubt there is any bribery and corruption that is driving the assessments in your neighborhood. I can't say you're not right about being over assessed, but if you are it's more likely to be a bad mass appraisal model (I've seen some pretty bad models) or there might be a lack of large ranch sales and you're pulling smaller ones and the adjustment for square feet of living area is too large. The worst assessment are usually caused by too much reliance on a system generated value without the assessor giving each an individual look than any malfeasance.

[achelois]

My coworker who lives in the same county (except she lives in the country club section) just received her new tax evaluation

HERS went up by $120,000! I guess I probably shouldn't complain about the measly $10k mine went up.

Yikes,what crock, though.