Tuesday, February 23, 2010
by Tom Stachler from Group One Realty Team - Real Est
Well its that time of year again when we get our notice's from the local tax assessor. The notice will contain your new tax assessment and what we can expect to pay for property taxes. Remember you can appeal this decision if you do not agree. Generally there will be instructions with your assessment that tell you how to sign up for to appeal initially to the local Tax Board of Review.
I am please to announce that this past year I was notified that I would be getting back two checks for different properties that I had appealed to the State Tax Tribunal. It should be noted that initially I did not receive any adjustments on the local level. Initially, your case is reviewed by individuals appointed by local government that is very concerned about declining tax revenue due to declining tax values (Tax Board of Review). No mystery here why they smile and tell you they will take your matter into consideration and then send you a denial letter once you are out of their door and confrontation range. I have a few suggestions if you think your taxable value is higher than 50% of your market value and you want to lower your tax bill.
You will need to start by requesting a meeting with your tax board of review. This is a panel that will meet for several weeks straight following the mailing of your assessment and you need to request a time slot right away while they are convened. Being a broker I can put together a market report showing comps or sold price data on similar properties. I did this in the past but was unsuccessful on my appeals. I would recommend that you spend $2-300. dollars for a formal appraisal. The appraisal should be dated December 31st of the previous year which is the value date that your assessor is trying to establish. Often, several of us in the community will go together and negociate a discounted price with a local appraiser for doing several appraisals at once for this purpose. This makes the process much easier both at the local and state levels. You now have an unbiased, third party market value opinion to present initially to the Tax board of Review and if needed, the State Tax Tribunal appeal. I recommend this approach highly. To start, you will make several copies (4) to supply to the local board and assessor at your first meeting which generally only last 15 minutes or less. From my own past experience, this yields limited or no satisfaction at the local level, but you could get lucky. You will receive an opinion from the Board of Review within a few weeks after your informal meeting along with instructions on how to appeal to the State Tax Tribunal. Unhappy with the results?.... then don't stop and send a copy of your appraisal to the State if you disagree and then be prepared to wait up to two years for a notice from them, though you should receive a confirmation of receipt and case number within 60 days. You can check you status online to by going to the State Web site as well. If this is concerning your Home or principle residence, the appeal to the State is Free. If its for investment property, then there is a $75. charge. I have found far more receptive ears at the State level, so don't be shy about taking this final step.
Of course there are more formal approaches involving hiring a tax attorney, but generally most people do not wish to speculate spending money on their fee's. This is something you will need to weight vs. the potential return.
Please call me if you have any questions or would like for me to send you some comps just to see if you should start with the appraisal route. Remember, I got back thousands on each of my appeals to the state so think positive.
Please scroll down and review other older posts herein for info on this and similar topics while your in this category.
Good luck!
