Comments on: How To Fight Your Property Tax Assessment

By: Dale

Dale — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 19:23:51 +0000

While your assessment is automatically adjusted based on the purchase price when you buy your home, that doesn’t always happen. In at least some areas, if your purchase price was more than a certain percentage below the assessment, there is no automatic adjustment. That happened to us when we bought our first home. However, that is often one of the easiest cases to fight. All you need to do is show that it was an arms-length transaction or that what you paid matched the comparables.

By: Texan

Texan — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:41:13 +0000

I challenged my home property value for 2007 and lowered it a few thousand dollars. My mistake was using housing prices sold in 2008, not 2007. They did not accept those values. I can use those to attest my 2008 valuation.

By: That One Caveman

That One Caveman — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 13:15:15 +0000

Last month, I wrote about challenging my own property tax assessment. I’ll find out next month if I was successful.

Our entire subdivision was victim to unwarranted reassessment – I’m convinced they didn’t even drive by the houses. In a market with declining home values, there is no reason to raise an assessment by over 10% except for greed.

Another useful tool in a challenge is an independent property assessment. If you recently purchased your house, your bank will have hired an assessor and you should have access to the copy of the assessment. Use that when challenging your assessment and you’ll likely win without complaint. My purchase was 1 1/2 years before my challenge and I’m hoping that that would be a new enough assessment.

By: Minimum Wage

Minimum Wage — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 12:14:31 +0000

I don’t own my primary residence, why should it be taxed higher than a homeowner’s primary residence? Is it my fault I don’t own it?