Assessor says recent appraisal has no bearing

[mark hurlock]

I have tried to search forums, sorry if repeated question. I understand that the forumula is different for assessors..but an appraisal 3 months ago shows value on home is 200k less than assessment. my client can go in front of the board in March, but assessor says that the appraisal has no bearing whatsoever. I believe they update valuations at the county level every two years..but citizens have the option to attend one meeting per year to dispute. assessor has repeated that an appraisal has no value to them. No idea how to help them, the property will never sell at the price assessed or taxed at.

I can not comment on Minnesota, but in some places an appraisal for assessment purpose is not valid. I would spend some time understanding their assessment basis before trying to understand the appraisal process.
In some cases, it's not the assessed value of your property in question but how your property compares to others.
Example, my neighbor has the same house but pays less than I. My argument is inequality not assessed value.
So you may have an argument if approached differently. If you are paying less, my guess is you want to keep quiet.

 

[Renee Healion]

the assessor says value is based on mil rate calculations not market values. the client has had the conversations with assessor, I have not..but have had the same discussion in previous years with same county. one local county accepts our CMA even, to dispute value..but not this particular county. I do not understand how they cannot use a current appraisal as part of the calculations. there are very few comparables in this area to use..appraiser did a great job

The assessor probably explained this to your client who did not take away the full idea. Taxes are the outcome of mill rate applied to value. (IRV) If you think people do not understand appraisal, they do not understand assessing any better.

As others have said, there is a time for dispute and then it is up. It also helps if the appraisal looks at the same time frame as the assessment. The reason is that they are arguing that they have been treated unfairly compared to others, and that is always as of the same date for every property owner. Tax day= effective date? I talk to assessors who see appraisals prepared for homeowners and the quality is often not good (many assessors were/are appraisers). And the reports are not addressing the market at the time the assessment was made. If your tax bill today has an assessment based on values from the market 2 years ago, then what is the point of bringing an appraisal with an eff date of last Tuesday?

That said, the first step in many places is to talk to the assessor. Some will just give a little as a concession even if they think they are right. Not satisfied, next are more formal venues, such as the appeals to a board (or whatever). And then next is court (with lawyers, appraisers that get it, etc). I do not advertise for homeowner/tax appeals because most calling want an appraisal for really cheap (or free on the phone) and they do not understand the above and then when they do they see the cost of going through all the steps gains something that is less than the cost to do so. It could be well worthwhile for non-res appellants.

 

[Michigan CG]

......... From my perch here hundreds of miles away, the assessor sounds like he doesn't know what he's talking about........

I gotta agree with this guy.

I have moved your thread to the Minnesota section.

 

[Ken B]

http://www.revenue.state.mn.us/propertytax/factsheets/factsheet_01.pdf

Given that assessments are based on market value, can't quite understand why an appraisal is of no use.

Can't make the horse drink.

 

[TennMan]

I have tried to search forums, sorry if repeated question. I understand that the forumula is different for assessors..but an appraisal 3 months ago shows value on home is 200k less than assessment. my client can go in front of the board in March, but assessor says that the appraisal has no bearing whatsoever. I believe they update valuations at the county level every two years..but citizens have the option to attend one meeting per year to dispute. assessor has repeated that an appraisal has no value to them. No idea how to help them, the property will never sell at the price assessed or taxed at.

I am an assessor in VA, PM me and I will try to help you from a general POV, obviously statutes will differ between states but perhaps I can help you ask the right questions.

 

[seekingknowledge]

thanks for taking time to reply! I have sent the homeowner the Mn. Dept. of Revenue process for disputing the assessement. The review process begins in March I believe..so he is getting his diligence done now. They have had several conversations on the process. I am always amazed at the differences by county in my area. Another local assessor I spoke to last month ran me the best and fastest anticipated tax value for a newly created 24 acre lakeshore vacant lot..no comps in years in area..they just updated their systems..we were within $500.00..love working with them!

 

[CANative]

There is a process that must be followed. It starts at the informal level where you deal with the local assessor and their staff and goes all the way up to the Minnesota Tax Court with stops in between at the various County Boards of Appeal.

Keep in mind that you only have until April of the next year (2009 taxes must be appealed by April 2010) to file. If you miss that deadline you're out of luck. There are rules of evidence which must be followed and these rules become more strict the farther up the chain you appeal.

I didn't read up enough on Minnesota property tax law enough to know about lien dates. In California, assessment values are established as January 1 of the tax year (some Counties use December 31 of the year before). Assessor appraisers use the same process any other appraiser does and are typically skilled and locally experienced. Appealing taxes is a matter of collecting and presenting evidence and certain rules apply. It's like a retrospective appraisal and, just like in SMT3 of USPAP, there must be a "logical cut off date" for the market data. In California the cut off date is March 31 of the tax year being appealed. I don't know the date for establishing a tax value in Minnesota but I image there is one and your "sale comps" cannot go beyond a certain point after that.

I don't think the appraiser at the assessor's office meant that you literally cannot use an appraisal to appeal your taxes. He probably has a jaundiced view of tax payers picking a random appraisal as long as it shows a value lower than the roll value but the market data is not in the right parameters suitable for appealing taxes (for the reasons noted above.)

Before you try to "help" the person appeal his taxes use "The Google" to search "minnesota property tax appeal process." There's a good pdf document that explains the process (a simple two page fact sheet). You need to know more about the process than this document presents but there is enough in it to do further research.

 

[Michigan CG]

I work in assessing for tax disputes on both sides of the fence. There are assessors who are not good at what they do, some very good at what they do and some are pressured to keep the tax money flowing in.

You will need to go through the process line by line as some will take any variance from the instructions as a reason to throw out the appeal.

I have seen some bizarre things in appeals.

 

[Elliott]

seek said, but assessor says that the appraisal has no bearing whatsoever...

We don't really know the basis for the hearsay statement from the asssessor (appraiser in the assessor's office?). My guess is the argument could be, "The assessment date is a year ago or 15 months ago and a 3 month old report is in the wrong year." So that could be the reactive crutch. Assessor's first line of defense, depending on whether its an election year or not, is to toe the line, try to cut off the complainers from going to the board. But that's why there is a board, and presenting the information to a them might be seen in a different light and an adjustment might be in order. And if the board isn't sympathetic, there is usually an appeal beyond that. But there is a protocol and valuation dates are important.

 

[CANative]

Assessor's first line of defense, depending on whether its an election year or not, is to toe the line, try to cut off the complainers from going to the board

I don't know about other states but in over 4 years of doing nothing but appealing property taxes I've had direction interaction with assessors and their appraisers. Several thousand cases, hundreds of appraisers. Within only one exception I've never come across an appraiser who was not professional and advocated for anything other than their opinion of value.