Our property taxes are very high compared to other properties in our area. I have requested a reapraisal from the tax accesor[sp?] in March of this year. I have stopped at the court house twice now to inquire about it and both times the person said it had been flagged and the appraisor had till Dec 31 to get out to the house. If he doesnt come what legal recourse do I have? If any? Anyone ever have success lowering property taxes?

-- tracy (murfette@stargate.net), November 23, 2001

Answers

Do you live in a state like CA where your taxes are based on purchase price? Not much you can do there, but they have reduced taxes across the board in certain areas during bad real estate periods (saved the county a lot of money and time sending out people). If a lot of people are applying for reappraisals, there just may be a backlog--I don't think they have that many people employed to do just appraisals.

It can be very difficult to appraise anything not a tract home because you cannot find comparables very easily. You might pay an appraiser yourself, but they don't have to take their results--after all, an appraisal is only an opinion (educated opinion, but any real estate person who knows his/her stuff could do just as well) as to value (and a value range at that), and you really do not know the value of a property until you sell it, and it is only good at that point in time.

At least CA's system is based on a real value set at some point in time. A lot of places just pick values out of a hat, without any regard as to whether they are realistic or not. You could get a good deal on a property in many places yet have it way over assessed.

Good Luck

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), November 23, 2001.

I live in PA, very rural area. A good example of the deifference, when DH and I where house hunting we had found a house with 40 acres, 2 out buildings and property taxes were under 600 a year. Didnt get that house though. Neighbors up the road are dairy farmers and own 100,s of acres with multiple out builings and their taxes are 1500. Friend mother has 30 acres with the same square footage of our home and she pays 700. We have 4 acres and 1 outbuilding and our taxes are close to 1600. See what I mean?

-- tracy (murfette@stargate.net), November 23, 2001.

We live in rural ny and here they have a grievance day in may. Most people I've heard of going to grievance day have had their taxes reduced. I'm sure pa must have some channel for challenging assessments.

-- peter (pdfitz@mkl.com), November 23, 2001.

I can't speak to PA, but here in IN we operate on assessed valuation. That is supposed to be a given percentage of a property's true value. Then the tax rate is applied to that number to come up with the tax amount. From that amount is deducted the total of any or all of four major property tax exemptions. These exemptions reduce the actual amount of tax due and can amount to a huge reduction in your propety tax bill if you qualify.

One is homestead exemption (must be primary residence), another is mortgage exemption (must be mortgaged with a balance in excess of $1,000.00 at the time taxes are assessed), a third is old age exemption (at least one owner must be 65 or over for any part of the taxing period) and the fourth is blindness exemption (again, any owner for any part of the year). You might want to check and see if you're missing some deductions or exemptions like those in PA. I hope this helps.

-- Gary in Indiana (gk6854@aol.com), November 23, 2001.

Another thing you have to allow for is zoning. For example, people with farms (not hobby) or timber often are exempted from certain taxes (while using the property for that purpose)--really no different from some of the corporate tax breaks out there--which can make for lower taxes than if you were zoned just plain old residential on the same property.

You almost sound like you're in a CA-type system, where, to be honest, you are penalized for moving, because real estate usually appreciates, not depreciates, unless you happen to luck out in a rare buyer's market and get a great deal. And this is where looking at what the owner is paying in taxes is not especially helpful because the owner may qualify for other exemptions (senior, handicap, etc.) that you don't.

In one way, the CA system is good, because it can only go up like 2% a year from that base value--the purchase price--(which you know up front and can check into to find out your taxes beforehand), and you can budget for this. In other states, they supposedly reevaluate everything to "even things out" so to speak (though still according to some arcane property valuing system) and people can have huge property tax increases, and think about it, you sure as heck don't get any better quality of service, and as your property values go up, you can get really hurt on levies for schools, the libraries, whatever. Instead of levies according to value it should be a flat rate per property for this stuff.

Maybe a certified letter would jog their memory--list the times you called and add copies of any letters of theirs and yours if you have them.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), November 23, 2001.

Ah Gary, but there's the rub: how do you calculate "true value"? Is it market value, which goes up and down? Is is new construction cost per foot, as in how much would this building cost to build today exactly as it was when new? Or is it how much would it cost to build today with the latest and greatest (and often now required by law) things like double-pane windows, modern heat systems, etc., which in some cases being more efficient might make construction costs less?

And should someone who lives in a new house (perhaps replaced after a fire) pay more than their next door neighbor, whose tract home (to use an example) is 30 years old? The level of services received for taxes is the same. Maybe charge so much by interior square footage regardless of age of building? What is a fair way to tax people? I like lotteries myself, because I don't play them very often, lol.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), November 24, 2001.

Here in Texas, if your land is ag exempt, the property taxes are next to nothing. To qualify, you raise and sell crops and/or critters.

-- ~Rogo (rogo2020@yahoo.com), November 24, 2001.

I will somewhat depend on the zoning also. For example, I own a bit over 900 acres. It is zoned agriculture, plus the 700 some acres of woods is in a Greenbelt program to where you basically say you will abide by certain rules, such as not clear cutting. That program also affects the tax rate. I pay about $2.00 per acre per year.

However, I also have one acre across the road as a possible future homesite. That is zoned residential and the taxes on it are signficiantly higher.

You can sometimes see this in a farm surrounded by housing developments. A thought might be, "How can they afford the taxes on that land?" Because of the way it is zoned (as agriculture) they likely pay only a fraction per acre as the houses around them.

Thus, you might want to look at how your land is zoned and if a portion of it can be changed to agriculture. Your argument would have to be you are in the business of raising animals or crops for sale. Just the fact you have a milk goat probably won't qualify you.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), November 24, 2001.

And make sure all the info on the tax ticket is correct. One year our taxes shot up. They had listed it as a rental property for some reason. One phone call did the trick.

-- Anne (HealthyTouch101@wildmail.com), November 25, 2001.

Most Assessor's offices have some form of recourse for challenging your assessed value. Go to your Assessor's office and obtain the tax sheet with your property & building information on it (appraisal sheet) and the valuation of both land and improvements to the land. Different states have different policies, but your local office should be able to explain whether your property is valued by similar sales or by replacement cost, etc. Then you can find comparable sales or properties and take that information with you to the local Assessor's office. If there were major errors in the appraisal sheet have that amended while you are there. In our state we have an appointed board of equalization that convenes and hears testimony from you and the appraiser that valued your property. Each individual is allowed to bring any information with them that can prove their value change. Sometimes an appraiser will come out and reassess your property, but here it is every 6 years unless you get a building permit for a major addition. Our state property assessment is based on 100% of market value. Carefully gather your facts and present them in a clear no nonsense manner and you will likely prevail. Good Luck!

-- S. Reader (olystar@hotmail.com), November 26, 2001.

Tracy, if PA is like here in SE OH folks get an ag exemption if you have over 20 or 30 acres, we would pay at least double our current real estate taxes if we did not have CAUV exemption. That is probably the difference in tax rates you mentioned. CAUV is continuing agricultural use valuation exemption.

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), November 26, 2001.

I was going to pass this post by because I'm in enough trouble already, but somehow, I just can't keep my mouth shut. Even when it gets me in trouble. Here is Volusia County, Florida, your taxes will be fairly reasonable unless you make the mistake of be vocally critical of county government. I started making a hobby of finding and exposing fraud, waste and downright fiscal stupidity on the part of our local County Council and ended up getting a visit from the Property Appraiser who decided that my two homebuilt polebarns (built 15 years ago from used materials) were suddenly worth $7,000! My investigations turned up several other "protesters" who have been similarly punished. Maybe your problem is not with your property, but with your politics.

-- john james (jjames@n-jcenter.com), November 26, 2001.