Another question for those who have grieved their taxes

I plan on doing it on my own. I know we can use recent sales from our area but what about other homes in the area that were purchased years ago but have more sq. footage, more property and are worth more but their taxes are less (alot of the people on the blocks around me added on and built "mini McMansions".

ETA: I have posted about this before. But my taxes went up about $3,000 since we bought our house in April 2006. My house was "assessed" by the town as being around $75,000 more than any of my neighbors yet our houses are all about the same sizes and several of my neighbors added on making their houses bigger than mine as I stated above.

Message edited 1/22/2008 7:38:19 AM.

Re: Another question for those who have grieved their taxes

I live in the Philly burbs so I'm sure the process is different but I grieved my taxes and we got a $2000 reduction.

The BEST way to argue for a reduction is to hire an appraisal - check the square footage that comes out of the appraisal and compare it to what the local board of assessments lists your house as. Many, MANY homes are measured improperly by the township because they do very quick, non-detailed oriented measurements. If the appraisal comes in with lower square footage, then you have a great argument that the taxes are too high based in an improper square footage assessment.