| Posted By |
Message |
MrsM84
LIF Adult
Member since 2/13 2352 total posts
Name:
|
Tax Grievance -- What am I looking for?
I am attempting to grieve my own taxes without hiring an agency/firm. I know that I need to find comparable homes in the area but what exactly am I looking for in those homes? I did some reading and THINK I want to find houses that are similar to mine but that are assessed at a lower value and have a lower adjusted market value? Is this right? HELP!
|
Posted 1/14/14 9:08 PM  |
| |
|
Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate
Long Island's Largest Bridal Resource | Long Island Weddings |
Mill188
LIF Adult
Member since 3/09 3073 total posts
Name:
|
Re: Tax Grievance -- What am I looking for?
First - when did you purchase the home? If you recently purchased (within the last year), your purchase price is the "true" indicator of value. Submit your grievance with your closing statement.
If your sales price was higher than your equalized full market value, you will need to provide comparable properties that have a lower value than your home. The properties should be within a mile or two, same school district, similar style and square footage. You are NOT trying to compare assesssments. You havs to prove VALUE. You dont have the right to a lower assesssment because your neighbor is under-assessed, but you do have the right to be valued the same if the properties are similar.
|
| Posted 1/14/14 10:46 PM |
| |
|
MrsM84
LIF Adult
Member since 2/13 2352 total posts
Name:
|
Re: Tax Grievance -- What am I looking for?
Posted by Mill188
First - when did you purchase the home? If you recently purchased (within the last year), your purchase price is the "true" indicator of value. Submit your grievance with your closing statement.
If your sales price was higher than your equalized full market value, you will need to provide comparable properties that have a lower value than your home. The properties should be within a mile or two, same school district, similar style and square footage. You are NOT trying to compare assesssments. You havs to prove VALUE. You dont have the right to a lower assesssment because your neighbor is under-assessed, but you do have the right to be valued the same if the properties are similar.
Thanks for the assistance! We closed on our house 6/10/13, so based on what you said, we would use our purchase price. Just to make sure I understand what you are saying, I now need to look for comps that recently sold for less than I paid? Another question -- I have a split. Does this mean its a waste to pull a comp that is a cape or a ranch? I appreciate all the help.
|
| Posted 1/14/14 10:58 PM |
| |
|
Mill188
LIF Adult
Member since 3/09 3073 total posts
Name:
|
Re: Tax Grievance -- What am I looking for?
Posted by MrsM84
Posted by Mill188
First - when did you purchase the home? If you recently purchased (within the last year), your purchase price is the "true" indicator of value. Submit your grievance with your closing statement.
If your sales price was higher than your equalized full market value, you will need to provide comparable properties that have a lower value than your home. The properties should be within a mile or two, same school district, similar style and square footage. You are NOT trying to compare assesssments. You havs to prove VALUE. You dont have the right to a lower assesssment because your neighbor is under-assessed, but you do have the right to be valued the same if the properties are similar.
Thanks for the assistance! We closed on our house 6/10/13, so based on what you said, we would use our purchase price. Just to make sure I understand what you are saying, I now need to look for comps that recently sold for less than I paid? Another question -- I have a split. Does this mean its a waste to pull a comp that is a cape or a ranch? I appreciate all the help.
Yes - your purchase price is the best indicator of value.
If you still want to look for comps, look for other splits. Unless you have a lot of experience doing adjustments for different style homes, it's a waste of time looking at different styles. You'd be better off finding a slightly bigger or smaller split than comparing your home to a ranch.
Honestly though, your purchase price is really the best evidence.
|
| Posted 1/15/14 10:35 AM |
| |
|
PitterPatter11
Baby Boy is Here!
Member since 5/11 7624 total posts
Name:
Momma <3
|
Re: Tax Grievance -- What am I looking for?
Posted by MrsM84
I am attempting to grieve my own taxes without hiring an agency/firm. I know that I need to find comparable homes in the area but what exactly am I looking for in those homes? I did some reading and THINK I want to find houses that are similar to mine but that are assessed at a lower value and have a lower adjusted market value? Is this right? HELP!
This is what we did. We found houses that had a similar square footage, similar number of bathrooms and bedrooms. We then only documented the houses that were assessed lower than our own.
Message edited 1/15/2014 1:01:37 PM.
|
| Posted 1/15/14 1:00 PM |
| |
|
MrsM84
LIF Adult
Member since 2/13 2352 total posts
Name:
|
Re: Tax Grievance -- What am I looking for?
Posted by PitterPatter11
Posted by MrsM84
I am attempting to grieve my own taxes without hiring an agency/firm. I know that I need to find comparable homes in the area but what exactly am I looking for in those homes? I did some reading and THINK I want to find houses that are similar to mine but that are assessed at a lower value and have a lower adjusted market value? Is this right? HELP!
This is what we did. We found houses that had a similar square footage, similar number of bathrooms and bedrooms. We then only documented the houses that were assessed lower than our own.
See this is what I am confused about -- you used the comp houses assessed value? Or the price the comp house sold at?
|
| Posted 1/15/14 8:10 PM |
| |
|
snowprincess
My happy babies
Member since 3/06 3428 total posts
Name:
|
Tax Grievance -- What am I looking for?
it is best to argue your assessed value is too high - don't try to compare your house to houses with low taxes
the first year I bought - we fought and used the sale price of the house and that was sufficient to lower our assessed value - the assessed value was about $200,000 more. We just used the appraisal we had at the mortgage
the second time I lowered my taxes - they increased because we did work - I used my appraisal as a guideline
so I looked in my school district for houses on the same size lot, similar style house,
all the houses I used to compare where sold within around the time period july of the year needed
then I went up or down based on different square ffootage, new kitchen,pool, finished basement, sprinklers, type of lot, type of house
I included a paragraph about each house and I won my assessed value I wanted
|
| Posted 1/15/14 10:57 PM |
| |
|
Mill188
LIF Adult
Member since 3/09 3073 total posts
Name:
|
Re: Tax Grievance -- What am I looking for?
Posted by snowprincess
it is best to argue your assessed value is too high - don't try to compare your house to houses with low taxes
THIS EXACTLY! Your legal argument CANNOT be that I may be paying less in taxes than you - that is not the basis for a tax assessment reduction. Most people don't understand the distinction. You are not arguing that your taxes are too high - you are arguing that your ASSESSMENT is too high. Taxes are not set by the assessment department. The assessment department determines the value of your home and places an assessment on it.
ASSESSMENT X TAX RATE = AMOUNT OF TAXES.
|
| Posted 1/16/14 9:57 AM |
| |
|
