How to Lower Your Home’s Real Estate Tax Assessment
Have you ever gone into your jurisdiction's real estate assessment database? (If not, Google "[Your City/County] Real Estate Tax Assessment".) When you compare you home to other similar homes in your neighborhood, does your assessment seem a little high? If it doesn't, congratulations. If it does, there may be some things you can do to lower your assessment.
Here is a summary of the steps you should take:
1. Review your home's records in the assessment database. Is the square footage correct? How about the number of bedroom, full baths, and half baths?
2. Compare your home's assessment with property tax assessments of comparable homes. Do you have the lowest square footage on your street, but the highest assessed value? If so, you may be able to do something about it. Look at all the variables- the year the house was built, lot size, brick veneer vs. siding, decks and patios, etc. In addition to your jurisdiction's Web database, you can also research comparable homes on Zillow and Trulia.
3. Contact the Assessor for your jurisdiction. Keep records of your research and build your case. You may even consider getting an independent assessment. However, check the rules governing assessment appeals in you jurisdiction for specifics.
There are several online resources that offer additional information, such as:
LowTaxRate.com is a good online resource for gaining insight into the assessment and appeal process.
Money Magazine published this article on lowering your property tax.
MarketWatch published this article on lowering your property's assessment.
Jon
P.S. If you found this post helpful, give it a Digg. Thanks.
Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment