King County Taxes- Did They go up?

As agents we are always asked "what can I do about my taxes?"  Especially now that values have fallen in relation to their assessment.   Here is some great in formation I got from my Title agent at Commonwealth Tile and Escrow.

The King County Assessor revalues all property in King County each year, notifying property owners of their new value determinations by mail on Official Property Value Notice cards.

The Assessor typically begins sending out these revaluation cards in April, finishing sometime in August. These new valuations will be the basis for the amount of taxes due the following year. Property owners who believe the new assessed value of their property exceeds its fair market value have the opportunity to appeal each year following receipt of the Assessor's revaluation notice by timely filing a petition to the King County Board of Equalization (BOE). Petitions must be received by the Board on or before July 1^st of the assessment year or within sixty (60) calendar days after the date listed on the Assessor's value change notice - whichever date is later. If submitted by mail, petitions must be postmarked by the post office no later than the filing deadline.

Filing an appeal with the BOE only requires the submission of two sets of the BOE's petition form. You can download this form off of the King County website listed below. While it is recommended that you provide the evidence you will use to support your appeal as early as possible, additional evidence may be submitted up to seven business days before your future hearing, which is typically several months after you file the appeal. There is no charge for filing an appeal.

 If you feel a mistake has been made in valuing your property, it is recommended that you contact the Department of Assessments directly. Review your account information with the Assessor's staff to make sure an error has not been made. It's also a good idea to review the characteristics of the Assessor lists for your property to make sure important features such as the property's parcel size, area of the improvements (residence), views, etc., are accurate. If your objection to the assessed value is that you are being valued high relative to assessments of other properties, this may be due to errors in assessment records.

If errors are discovered, the Assessor may be able to correct the data and the assessment without an appeal to the Board. Once you have submitted your petition to the BOE, the staff will process your petition, send you an acknowledgement letter, and forward a copy of your petition to the Assessor's Office for their review and response. You should expect a response from the Assessor in two to six months, depending on the volume of appeals. Based on the evidence included within your petition, the Assessor may choose to recommend an adjustment in the assessed value. If this occurs and you agree to the Assessor's stipulated or recommended value amount, the need for a hearing