Marketing for Property tax Over-Assessment

[WadeKoutnik]

is anyone doing this? I see properties all the time that are over assessed and I know many people are attempting to fight this.

What are the legalities and how do we go about doing an appraisal for these purposes?

I know we need to use a GP form.

 

[Lawrence R.]

is anyone doing this? I see properties all the time that are over assessed and I know many people are attempting to fight this.

What are the legalities and how do we go about doing an appraisal for these purposes?

I know we need to use a GP form.

Well, clearly you need to have a good engagement letter. The smoky haze that surrounds appeals and advertising to do them is the perceived contingency. You almost have to promise the appellant that they will win before they will hire/pay you.

Then again, it's your decision how to do that or how not to. Bigger corporate clients have people on staff (usually at their accounting firm) to do this on an annual basis which really chaps my butt.

At any rate, though rules vary from state to state, I would be happy to give you advice about the appeals process, etc...

PM me.

 

[JMFla]

Here are the inherent problems I find with this (and likely why only a few lawyers with large resources are doing it in Fla) –
Fla. Property owners have only a short time to appeal to the VAB once they get the Trim Notice. 45 days?
Marketing to the masses and sorting through who could be helped (even for a small $50 fee) would swamp you, and you only have a month to do it. As you probably know, most Fla property owners don’t even know how the “save our homes” system works, and if long-term, lowering of the “market value” won’t lower their assessed value. You would spend a large amount of time educating people.
You cannot advocate for your client/property owner, or represent at the hearing. Would likely need to work with a lawyer so they can see it through the VAB stage, and to civil court if necessary. Just giving someone an appraisal and sending them off would not be providing much of a service.
May need to do a narrative report with comparison of other similar properties’ taxation, as it comes down to fairness of taxation, as well as market value.
Also, remember these will be retrospective values as of Jan. 1, 2008. More work.
You may want to just target market to some of those that you see have high assessments, and believe you can prove they should be lower . Good luck.

 

[J L H]

Property owners have only a short time to appeal to the VAB once they get the Trim Notice. 45 days? ............
you only have a month to do it.

Can't speak definitively for other states, but in my state the property owner needs only to initiate the appeal within 45 day, but the actual presenting of facts, data, sales, etc., can take as long as it needs to take. Appeals started in August '08 might not get resolved until early '09.

As for the other comments about advocacy, carefully worded engagement letters, and client education - they're spot on.

 

[Tom Eichholz]

In general, the tax reduction savings on most residential properties will usually only be a nominal amount and probably will not be worth the cost for Joe Homeowner to pay for an appraisal to be done soley for a tax appeal; especially if the value only "sticks" for one year.

As a former appraiser in a good sized Assessment Dept, my experience with hearing tax appeals was that most "winning" appeals that resulted in a lower tax amount were usually as a result of the Department's property information was proven to be in error; usually incorrect square footage (which resulted in an overvaluation due to incorrect Comp selection).

Also, not speaking for any particular jurisdiction, but our general value guideline was if we were not over 5% of what the homeowner contested: No Change.

My Advice. Skip it! Or it will put you very high on your State's radar screen...

 

[Bsen1]

Believe it or not our county has re-assessed and lowered values on all properties sold after Jan. 2004. I fell into this category and got my new assessement a few weeks ago. It is still not as low as it should be but not too far off. Value as of Jan. 08.

 

[Thomas N. Morgan]

There's not much of a future in it. Your best bet might be to offer to review their assessment, and if factual errors are found, offer to accompany the property owner to the office of the Property Appraiser, as a consultant. I think almost any County Property Appraiser will correct factual errors.

 

[Riick]

You cannot advocate for your client/property owner, or represent at the hearing. Would likely need to work with a lawyer so they can see it through the VAB stage, and to civil court if necessary. Just giving someone an appraisal and sending them off would not be providing much of a service.

Usually done as a team effort.
One appraiser does the appraisal itself - not advocating, just reporting.
2nd appraiser appears @ assessor, or in court, and now tihs person CAN advocate, since he/she did not MAKE the appraisal.

 

[Kali the Boston Terrier]

I do a lot of these...I usually hold a tax appeal seminar about a month before the assessments come out at all the real estate offices, board of realtors, and community recreation houses. Its mainly informative, giving a detailed explanation of the process, laws, cost/benefit....anyhow I got the seminar approved two hours coned with the State for appraisers and agents. They come for the coned, start getting the calls from previous buyers...they say "I have no idea, call this guy".

You really have to be competent in this arena, its more than knowing what form or what form not to use. Its knowing your rules of evidence, report content, process...If any of you want to see on my website I have my tax appeal seminar powerpoint under appraiser downloads...www.kresinc.com

 

[Mike Garrett RAA]

Could be a good niche market for appraisers; however, after running a yellow page ad for more than 10 years, I found it really wasn't that lucrative.

Still offer the service and have a few steady customers. Here is how I do it.

1. Offer to provide sales data to the home owner so they can handle their own appeal. I charge $75 for what amounts to about an hour of research for comparable sales.

2. If they want me to do an appraisal, I charge my normal residential rate for an interior/exterior inspection. They can then submit the appraisal for consideration by the county.

3. If they want me to appear before the Board of Equalization, I charge an appearance fee which usually equals an appraisal fee. So, they have about $700 in costs to carry the appeal that far. Seldom can they recover that much in tax savings so it rarely goes that far.

Remember you are there to represent your appraisal, not as an advocate for the property owner. You must be prepared, make a formal presentation similar to testimony in court, and prove the assessor was incorrect in his/her valuation of the property.

Since I served as a Hearing Officer on the Board of Equalization for several terms I was well prepared to handle these appeals, in fact, most of the time the Assessor's representative would usually just stipulate to my appraisal without me even having to make my presentation.