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Leon[_7_]

On 1/28/2014 6:59 PM, wrote:
On Mon, 27 Jan 2014 17:35:49 -0500, Keith Nuttle
wrote:

On 1/27/2014 4:19 PM, woodchucker wrote:
On 1/27/2014 4:01 PM, Leon wrote:
On 1/27/2014 2:39 PM, woodchucker wrote:
Well we got our new assesment in.

My house went down by 7%.
My neighbors went down by 14%.
I have no upgrades.
They put in a new kitchen, 2.5 baths were redone, new deck, new patio,
new walkway.

My house is 1000 sq less then theirs. We have a small house, they have 1
more bedroom and much bigger rooms.

Their house is now valued less than ours by 5k. I just got off with the
assessor, and they feel everything is correct.
I have 2 baths really 1.75 baths as one has a shower only.
The last assesment their house was priced 20k higher than ours.. which I
still felt was low due to the 1000sq feet and extra 1/2 bath.. Now with
all the new stuff, how can their house be less than mine.

Talking with the company that did the inspections they feel there is
nothing wrong with the numbers... You have to wonder how these idiots
get their values reversed and say that there is nothing wrong.
It's going to cost me to challenge my assesment.

Welcome to the world of fuzzy home appraisals when your government is
involved.

I used to fight my appraisals pretty much every year with pretty good
success. That was when they used what would naturally be good reasons
to assess the value of your property. You have all valid assumptions of
why your property should be appraised lower than the neighbors.

Several years ago the appraisals started going strictly by what homes in
the area are selling for. Never mind if you home needs repairs, has not
been updated, or is half the size of the house 3 streets over.

I finally gave up fighting it and let a local company handle fighting
the appraisals. This is their area of expertise and I feel I am at
least paying a fair and or reasonable tax for my area. You should
probably be able to locate on in your ares. While you should be able to
do this your self you probably do not know what trend or silly ass
schedule is being used to determine value for any given year. It
changes frequently to stay ahead of those that choose to fight this
themselves.

The company that handles my fights is O'Connor and Associates. Their
fee is "half" of the tax dollars that they save you each year. If they
save you $500 form this years tax, you pay them $250, you are ahead
$250. If they don't lower your tax bill you pay nothing. Typically you
sign up initially and they handle it from year to year unless you cancel
their service.

Your neighbors probably hired a similar company to handles their
appraisals.

`
The assesment was done by a local company hired by the town.
That's useful to know about the service. As I really suck at these
battles. The guy I was talking to (from the company) was talking in
circles saying it's not unreasonable for a house to be valued less than
another in a different neighborhood. I said it's the house next door,
what different neighborhood.. and he kept doing circles.. which leads me
to realize that you can't talk to an asshole.

I believe that the only significant determinant in the evaluation of a
house in the value of comparables in the area. That means that you are
paying to live in the area not the house.

When you go to sell your house, that's what will determine what it's
worth.

Correct

Since property taxes are based on the "value" of the house,
that makes sense, no?

Those taxes are based on every fixed thing on the lot, including the
lot. Does that make sense? Not really.

Now granted that is the way it is set up but why on earth should you
have to pay $10,000 and you neighbor only have to pay $4000? You both
are being represented the same and use the same amenities.

It would be like the grocery store picking a different sales tax rate
for you than the next guy in line because you own two cars and he only
owns one.