On Wed, 29 Jan 2014 10:05:16 -0600, Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet
wrote:

On 1/29/2014 9:12 AM, wrote:
On Tue, 28 Jan 2014 19:23:13 -0600, Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet
wrote:

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.

But those very same fixed things add (or subtract) to the resale value
of the house. If they do the job right (not getting into this), then
the taxed value is correct. IOW, as long as assessed_value =
resale_value, all is good.

Property taxes based on perceived value is a farce, scam, sham, you name it.

Is it any more of a scam than appraised value for resale? After all,
it's (or should be) an estimate based on comparable home sales.

Paying a tax for the value on your house is unfair. You don't get extra
services than your next door neighbor nor does he get more services than
you yet one of you is paying more tax to offset government spending.

I don't disagree but that's the way it's done and, as I said, life
isn't fair. The principle "unfairness" is that it is a tax on wealth,
rather than income (ability to pay).

The fact that the government picks an ever changing variable makes it
easy to increase taxes with out back lash.
If every one paid the same tax for said services the government would
have to have a better reason/excuse to increase taxes as every one would
be affected.

But "that's not fair". Snif.

Why do I pay more in income tax than the guy living in a cardboard
box, under the Interstate?

It is far easier to pick on individuals and increase their taxes than to
increase the taxes across the board on everyone.

Not sure that's true (or all that relevant). The real danger, here,
is that it can (and is) used as political capital (and retribution).

Every property owner under the same taxing authority should pay the same
property tax. That is the only, fair to all, schedule to use.

The guy in a one-bedroom apartment should pay the same as Al Gore, in
his 90 bathroom mansion?

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.

"Fairness" of the tax system is a whole different kettle. Why do I
pay a higher percentage of my income in tax than my neighbor? Why do
I pay more dollars in income tax? "Fair" is in the eye of the
beholder but life isn't fair.

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.

No, it's like a grocery store charging higher tax on steak than
hamburger. Of course some states do this (orange juice vs. orange
drink, sorts of things).


Actually it is like the car thing, perceived wealth and taxed on that.
Property taxes are not fair by taxing your perceiv4ed wealth. You
should be taxed for services, not on what you own.

That would be fine, if everyone could even come close to paying that
bill. Divide government spending by the population to see what your
share is.