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Property Tax Appeal
The property tax appeal process is virtually the same in all states and in all cities. Essentially, you are going before your city or counties valuation department and arguing your point that your property is currently overvalued and that you are paying too much in real estate taxes. I.e. that their assessment of your properties value is wrong. The “burdens of proof” is on your shoulders to properly point out that they have incorrectly reported your properties value.
You may find that your city seems to be pretty accommodating with the process. They will provide you forms to fill out and file. Perhaps they have already given you a brochure and or directed you to their website that describes the process of property tax appeals.
The reality however, of filing a property tax appeal is that there is a line in front of you. More and more property owners are enjoying huge savings and the word is getting out. Property values have dropped nationwide, making more owners eligible for substantial savings. States hit hard like Michigan, Ohio, Florida, California, Arizona and Nevada are seeing property decreases in some cities up to 50%... Cities and citizens are scrambling to protect their own interests, and if you don’t have your property tax appeal set up in a solid manner - you risk having your appeal denied.
Property Tax Appeals
George Evers points out in his property tax appeal guide(a book we recommend), that one major point of frustration and conflict is that cities do not like to use comparable recent sales (COMPS) if the sale happened under a “distressed situation.” Distressed situations include foreclosures or sellers that were forced to sell for a variety of reasons, like medical problems, job transfers, etc. Keep in mind, most sales that are currently happening, especially in states like California where they have vast over supply, are purchases of foreclosed properties!
Another way that your city may describe this is “Fair Market Value without Undue Influences.” Many cities go on to include an "informed buyer…" What all of this ambiguity creates is LOOPHOLES for the city to use only the comps that they want to. And you had better believe that the comps they want to use will support their own interests. So you need to know how to debate these issues and many others like it. Winning your appeal is not hard, you just need to be prepared.
The system is exposed to be set up so that everyone pays a fair share of real estate taxes. If you are overassessed, than you are paying more than your share and you have both a moral and legal right to have it lowered.
Property Tax Lower
Knowing the intricacies of presenting your property tax appeal is how you will win. It’s how you present your comps. It’s being prepared for them to throw you curve balls questions during the appeal and how you are going to respond with those on the spot and argue you tax appeal. It’s all about which comps you use and how to present them to the board. They will be very prepared to argue their point. You will need to be the same.
Lowering your property taxes is not hard. If you are working on a residential property, the council meeting itself will only take 5 -10 minutes. Keep in mind the city official do this every day. If you walk in the door with only their forms filled out, and a few comps you got from your Realtor, you will be wasting your time. Don’t bring a “butter knife to a gun fight.”
Click Here to see if you have a case.
Click here to see to see how to reduce property taxes.
Call us at 248 885-8797 to discuss your potential property tax appeal or fill out the property tax form and well be able to give you more meaningful answers on how we'll be able to help you.
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