Property Tax Assessment

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BethN_IHB

BethN_IHB

New member
So many of you posters seem to be market savvy. Perhaps you can offer insight on this matter. Those of us who are already homeowners have seen depreciation of late. And will get worse. Does the assessors office account for this on the new tax bill? I seem to recall during the 90's downslide that this was not automatic. The homeowner had to pursue it on their own. Any thoughts would be helpful.
 
<p>BethN - You are correct it is not automatic and you would have to go to <a href="http://www.ttc.ocgov.com/treas/index.asp">http://www.ttc.ocgov.com/treas/index.asp</a> and search around on how to go about it. I would imagine that it will not be an easy process and I am sure the county will be reluctant to reduce the revenue they receive. </p>

<p>I am not sure what affect prop 13 has on it but I would think it wouldn't make much sense unless there was a significant decline. IIRC you can only do it once but I could be wrong. So it might be better to wait if you think the price decline will continue.</p>
 
Per Graph's advice, I researched it online and called the assessor's office. I was told (by a woman that sounded at least 90 years old) that this year's assessment was based on numbers taken from January 1, 2007. To that end, I decided to wait until 2008 (as values will surely decline further) to appeal. Good luck, boomben. Let us know what happens.
 
my understanding is that results from contesting your assessment are mixed. also depending on where you live, comps might not be so easy to find given that sales are down. if there are builders still selling identical homes at inflated prices that are boosted by incentives and rebates, that clearly doesnt help your case. not entirely comparable but there's still more than enough "housing prices havent gone down" nonsense out there for the county to make it hard on you. if you have a few neighbors in the same tract that sell, that would be perfect. and even though foreclosures and short sales ARE comps, housing bulls and the county i'm sure will claim that they are not.





i'm planning to suck it up for few yrs and then start thinking more seriously about this when i think the mkt has hit rock bottom. it might be interesting to estimate the costs of contesting (appraisals, legal, and your own time spent dealing with county bureaucracy) relative to your tax savings (net out reduced tax liability minus lost tax deduction). from there you can determine what sort of decline in easily provable home value you need to see before making it worth the effort of contesting.





i guess the housing bulls are right. real estate always goes up --<em> according to the tax man</em>!
 
<em>"<strong>Has anyone gone to court to lower their property tax.."





</strong></em>My friend once told me that her former neighbor did just that and regret it. They got their property tax down in mid. 90's. It was easy to do and received no objection from the government at all. BUT, when the market shot up, so did their property tax. Whereas my friend, who spoke little English back then, did not go with her neighbor's suggestion. They paid whatever they were told and their property tax remained pretty much the same till they sold their house in 2003.





I agree with graphrix to wait for more decline to make it worthwhile.<em><strong></strong></em>
 
As Mendelssohn pointed out, that's the kicker. When the values rise, you will be playing catch up. So, instead of the usual Prop.13 two percent, it can jump up whatever the current market value is.
 
<em>"BUT, when the market shot up, so did their property tax."





</em>wouldnt their increase be capped at 2%? i'm assuming this was in california?





edit: nm, see bethN's comment above.
 
Well, If IR's predictions are close to accurate, appreciation will not be seen until 2015. It just may be worth it to appeal. If not in 2008, perhaps 2010?
 
<p>Thanks</p>

<p>I bought my new house a little over a year ago and now the same exact new home is selling for 30K less, plus more builder incentvies.</p>

<p>My only problem is that is today. If I have to go to January Prices, I might not see a big decline.</p>

<p>It sounds like I should wait a year and then appeal the property tax bill</p>

<p>thanks</p>
 
<p>I am scheduled to go to "court" in November so I can give you an update after I go. If they can reassess your value up every year I don't see why they can't continue to reassess your value down every year. I was not going to appeal my bill until they decided to raise my home value this year. The real kicker was that nothing has EVER sold in my complex to what they said my property is worth.</p>
 
<strong><em>"wouldnt their increase be capped at 2%? i'm assuming this was in california?"





</em></strong>Yes, it was in Westpark next to Culverdale elementary.


I do not know how reliable the story is though.
 
<p>I have gone through the appeal process and it was quite simple and quick. The county does take comps prepared by a local a real estate agent. I submitted comps from foreclosed homes and the county call me and negotiated a slightly higher amount, which was still very low.</p>
 
New Buyers - take note of Impounds....

Now that the market is backwards - you may be buying a place (lets say for example for $300K) and lets say the seller paid $400K last yeat - the tax assessor will base your taxes on sales price of $300K - BUT- the Lender will base your Impounds based on on the LAST TAX BILL PAID - this will jack up your impounds for the first 2 - 6 months until the county Re-assess the property.

The good news is - I spoke with orange county tax assessors office and you will get a 'negative supplemental bill' with a refund when they do Re-assess your home.
 
<p>Looks like I never had to go to my scheduled "court" date to get my property taxes reduced. </p>

<p>The county assigned someone to our case and they had been in contact with us these past couple of weeks. They asked why we were appealing, what we believed our property taxes should be and how we came to that conclusion. He called us back yesterday telling us we did not have to go and he would reduce our assessed value to what we had suggested. The only thing is that we have to do this every year otherwise the assessed value will reset to the higher value.</p>
 
<p>I received a call from the OC Tax Collector yesterday.</p>

<p>They agreed to lower my property tax assessed value by $45K </p>

<p>In my appeal I asked for 50K, but I was not going to fight over 5K in value.</p>

<p>Looks like I will not have to go to court also.</p>
 
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