Re-Assessing your Home Value to Lower Your Property Taxes:
In this time when we're seeing more and more foreclosures hit the market a lot of homeowners don't realize that they can go to the Tax Board and see if there Property Taxes can be lowered. There are signs that help you know that your home warrants an Adjustment, as follows:
Compatible homes in the area that have sold for less than your appraised value.
- Neighbors with lower assessments on similar houses. Keep in mind some homes retain the same assessed value for years and assessed values often don't rise or fall in step with market values or home sale prices.
- Value reducers in your home or area, including drainage problems, easements, re-zoning, heavy traffic, nearby railroad tracks, freeways, industry or toxic waste.
First thing you should do is examine your tax records to make sure everything is accurate. And you might want to ask yourself a few questions to understand whether you home is over valued by the state of california.
- Did you buy your home in a bidding war?
- Are there errors in your bill, do they have the correct amount you purchased, square feet, too many rooms, or other things that could falsely raise your assessed value.
If you need to appeal the assessed value and related property tax, prepare yourself for a time-consuming ordeal. In most cases the process is free for taxpayers, but you may want to enlist the aid of a licensed Realtor to assist you.
Typically, you'll have to find three, five or more comparable homes in your neighborhood that have lower assessments. Obviously, the lower the better. Also, the more comparables, the stronger your case. Truly comparable homes are homes nearly identical to your home's floor plan, age, lot size, improvements and other factors.
If you think your home falls into this category than it might be time to get some comparables of your home and STOP being OVER taxed...
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