How do I deal with an arrogant tax assessor that wants to increase my homes valuation by $60,000?

Question

I bought my home in February of this year for $309,000 and it is completely obvious that it is no longer worth that today, just 8 months later. While this doesn't bother me too much since we plan on staying here for years to come, I am having a problem with my city's tax assessor. My wife had to go meet with him tonight by herself since I could not make it. (their appeal hours are set up for 1st shifters only and I work 2nd shift). I went on Realtor.com and printed out 10 comparable homes for sale in our neighborhood all of which are selling much cheaper per square foot than what we paid and many of them are newer. The assessor was very arrogant and didn't want to hear anything my wife had to say. He just kept saying that we "set the bar" by paying $309,000 for it so that's what the assessment will be too bad. Obviously anyone who reads the papers knows that we are in the middle of a huge subprime mortgage meltdown and home values have come down substantially. Please help.

Answer 1

Offer to sell it to him at the higher rate.

Answer 2

You are caught in the web of property tax assessments. Your city has a vested interest in driving up the values of property because that helps them increase the tax take. The assessor is in on that nice game.

They value homes based on sales prices. If homes are sold for a higher price, that drives up everyone's value. If you paid $309K, you not only set that as the value for your home, but it also will be used to raise the value of other homes in the market.

Over time, the sub-prime meltdown might have the impact of lowering values, but I doubt it. The cities are sucking up taxes faster than we can pay them and just won't be interested in letting you off too cheap.

I think you are stuck unless you can prove that you paid too much for a reason that was not obvious. I can't imagine that you can sell that.

Answer 3

All you can do is appeal the assessment and bring the neighborhood info with you. The panel of judges (the assessor is not among them) will look over the info and either it will go down , stay the same, or increase.
The house is not the issue. Land values have increased. So it may be something to do with location.

Answer 4

Most jurisdictions give homeowners the opportunity to appeal their tax assessments ... take advantage of that. It will force them to take a second look at the assessment, and if you can provide proof of the values, that would be even better!

Make sure that the assessment is as accurate as possible, because you're paying property taxes based on what the State thinks the property is worth ... so it is in your best interest to correct the information if necessary.

Answer 5

Are you in the middle of a revaluation? Is that why this is coming up? If so, you have the right to be heard, but I don't know that you can fight much farther than that. I suppose you can go up the chain and talk to people.

In my town, we had a reval last year, but it was the kind where they do it on paper and never look at your house. Mine went way up. Of course, it's over-valued now, but there is nothing we can do. Another reval happens in four more years. All we can do is wait.

Good luck.

Answer 6

They have a set formula for working out the rate in your area that they have to follow.
Check to see if that was followed and you'll have to stick with that.

Answer 7

Get the figures from recent sales in your near local area.. that would be proof enough ...

Answer 8

Locally here in my county (town) getting another appraisal has helped.

Answer 9

Can you request an independent review by a panel? That's what we do where I live.

Answer 10

buying property sucks any way you look at it. Ugh the headaches.