I understand what you're saying however the way it's working in my area
(Pgh, PA), I am to deduct the afore mentioned items from the sale price.
The local municipality is trying to nail me on sale price rather than by
assessment. I can argue that I paid for these items as part of the sale
price of the house. At the same time these items are truly not considered
part of the property "value". So the idea is that once I deduct these things
as well as some necessary repairs needed I should get a valuation lower than
my sale price - As you guessed around $15,000, more like $20K though. There
are some other things in the mix like other local home sales, etc.

I can tell you that trying to go back in time to figure out appliance prices
is tough.


"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in message
news

"Fred" wrote in message
news:02cze.7351$vu5.1702@trndny08...
I am fighting my local municipality who is trying to raise my house value.
I've been told by a RE lawyer to assess the value of the appliances I
have
in order to lower the assessment of my house. Can anyone tell me how to
judge the original MSRP of home appliances? I do not have receipts -
They
were all purchased by previous owner.

Unless the appliances are a part of the house, they would have no affect
on the assessed value. My guess is you are looking to change the value
by $5000 or $15,000 or more. Showing that the refrigerator cost $500 and
not $600 is not going to help much.

I think you need better advice and a better way to contest the evaluation.
They should be able to tell you how the figure was arrived at and then you
can make a sensible challenge to it. Start by doing comparables. Don't
be shocked if you lose. House values have risen considerably the past few
years.