Do you have to pay the same property taxes amount, even if you house lost 20% of its original value?

Question

With the housing slump, our properties lose a lot of equity money, its around any legal way to decrease the amount of your property taxes? on another words, do you have to pay the same property taxes amount, even if you property lost 20% of its original value? I live on California.

Answer 1

Just be glad it wasn't reassessed like ours was at last years values. Chances are, your property assessment is truly less than the actual resale value of your house. Most are. But, to answer your question, yes you can request an adjustment, or reassessment hearing from your local tax office. When dealing with local government, you always have the right to a hearing. But you will need to bring in proof of the devaluation, such as, records of nearby 'like' property sales, etc., to show actual damages to the property values in your area.

Answer 2

You pay property taxes based on the assessed value that the city or county levying the taxes determines. Every few years they will reevaluate the assessed value of property and adjust property taxes accordingly. Odds are your assesses property value that you are actually paying taxes on is probably still lower than the actual FMV of your house. You have to pay the taxes that are billed to you. If you disagree with the assessed value you can attempt to take that issue up with the city or county levying the taxes and attempt to get your property reassessed in an attempt to decrease your property taxes. The only upside to higher property taxes is that they are deductible on your income tax return so long as you itemize your deductions. Hope this helps.

Answer 3

The old rule of thumb that the property appraisal is less than the value of the house may be changing. The appraisals in my neighborhood are running $20K higher than what people can sell for.

The problem of course is if everyone's property goes down 20% in value, the taxing authority will raise everyone's tax rate 25% to make up the same amount of revenue.

Answer 4

Yes you do. Assessments are set based on comparable properties, and those probably lost the same percent or close to it.

If the assessor knocked everyone's assessment down 20%, the tax rate would just end up being raised to compensate so you'd be right back where you started from, paying the same total amount of tax, just a higher rate on a lower assessment.

Answer 5

In California, the assessor will reduce the assessed value to the current market value if you ask. You should make your request before December 10 when your first tax installment is due.

Answer 6

u should be able to protest ur tax valuation.
if all houses are down then the value of the others is down.
we got an adjustment on ours of 7% last year and expect another 5% this year. houses don't sell so the price can't go up.

Answer 7

Yep since the appraisal information was done earlier in the year or last year when the values were higher. It will be interesting to see if they come down next year due to lower housing values.

Answer 8

Yes. Don't you just love it? Something needs to be done about the appraisals that are done. They are inaccurate and worthless as far as I'm concerned. They are always inflated. That's been my experience. The banks are the culprit usually. People are too because they want more money than they usually can get. That's part of it too. But since the banks are in charge of the money, they can say no.

Answer 9

You need to protest your property taxes at your County Assessor's Office.

Answer 10

Everyone's house lost the same 20% of value so you still pay.