Getting an appraiser to appeal tax assessment

[Fernando]

MSN

www.msn.com

In CA, it's easy to file an appeal and may take years to finalize.
More property owners should do it if they feel it's too high. Make assessors work for their job.

 

[ZZGAMAZZ]

I've been a hearing officer for Allegheny County and have presided over close to a thousand hearings. It's very rare that a residential property s over assessed. People just get ticked off that immediately after they buy it the value rises to 87% of the purchase price. One day last year during the crazy boom when people were paying over list price, the amount of whiners showing up was staggering. Some did have appraisals, pretty hard to convince me that a property dropped 100K in value in 6 months. Some appraisers will do anything for the right price. I didn't lower one value that day.

I vaguely recall a scenario about 10 - 15 years ago when San Bernardino County Assessor issued a public statement advising property owners that they did not need to hire an appraiser in lieu of simply submitting a request to the jurisdictional authority.

Also wondering whether the CA protocol that increases property value only marginally every year, until the property is sold. consequently precluding millions of potential dollars in tax revenue left on the table for properties that haven't sold for decades, applies to all states as well?

 

[Fernando]

I vaguely recall a scenario about 10 - 15 years ago when San Bernardino County Assessor issued a public statement advising property owners that they did not need to hire an appraiser in lieu of simply submitting a request to the jurisdictional authority.

I remember that time. I was getting advertisement from this company that said they can help file tax appeal and any savings the company gets a share.
Kind of an ingenious easy scam.
Property owners don't need to go to these companies. They can easily file for themselves and save money.

Also wondering whether the CA protocol that increases property value only marginally every year, until the property is sold. consequently precluding millions of potential dollars in tax revenue left on the table for properties that haven't sold for decades, applies to all states as well?

 

[TC]

MSN

www.msn.com

In CA, it's easy to file an appeal and may take years to finalize.
More property owners should do it if they feel it's too high. Make assessors work for their job.

Interesting article, but I wish they would have explained the "why". My guess is the lower selling homes were underassessed when purchased and that value did not change when sold. So why go appeal when it's still lower than sale price.

 

[Tim Hicks (Texas)]

Interesting article, but I wish they would have explained the "why". My guess is the lower selling homes were underassessed when purchased and that value did not change when sold. So why go appeal when it's still lower than sale price.

Because people don't want to pay their fair share. They know what they paid for the house, they know what the tax rate for their area, yet they don't want to pay it.

 

[Fernando]

Because people don't want to pay their fair share. They know what they paid for the house, they know what the tax rate for their area, yet they don't want to pay it.

That's what I did.
First I don't let assessor know I'm an appraiser.
I play the dumb homeowner who got the lowest comps from Zillow (and MLS) and say it's worth this low value.
Assessor seeing how far apart with their value takes easy path and settle to lower than market value.

 

[TC]

Was playing the dumb homeowner a stretch?

 

[DTB]

Because people don't want to pay their fair share.

I already pay more than my fair share based on my usage of public services

 

[CenCoastApr]

According to California property tax law, Once the base year is established upon purchase, the assessed value can rise no more than 2% per year. Sometimes it is less and during the market crash around 2008, it was even negative. That number is called the factored base year value. There is also a provision Commonly referred to as prop eight. If the market value of a property drops below the factored base year value that is on the tax roll, the assessor is required to enroll the lower of the two, but this only happens if it is brought to their attention. The property owner can apply for a prop eight review. It does not guarantee a lower assessment, but it does get reviewed and a full on appeal is not necessary. Aside from this, if someone purchased their property at an appropriate full market value, It is highly unlikely that an appeal would be successful. Where things tend to get sticky, is when a property owner adds new improvements without providing complete plans, or the assessor discovers previously unknown improvements.

The morality of burdensome taxes as a whole is a different discussion. Without a doubt, living in this state comes at a steep price. The recent passage of prop 19 is going to make it worse.

 

[TC]

I gotta take my own advice. I inspected a property yesterday and relied on the county measurements. Didn't look right when reviewing the photos. Sure enough, went back and instead of 26 x 30 it was 26 x 38. Told the owner not to say a word.