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Dani00518
Gorgeous
Member since 5/05 2730 total posts
Name:
Danielle
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How can you tell if taxes can be grieved?Updated with another question
TIA
Message edited 5/23/2007 11:03:55 AM.
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Posted 5/22/07 8:40 AM  |
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SweetTooth
I'm a tired mommy!
Member since 12/05 20105 total posts
Name:
Lauren
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Re: How can you tell if taxes can be grieved?
the easiest way is to use a tax greivance service. the harder way is to do your own research. Call the town and find out what your house is assessed at. If you just bought your house and it is assessed for higher than what you paid, then you have an easy case. But if you bought a while ago, you need to find out the comps in your area and what they are assessed at and what taxes they are paying. If the comps are paying lower taxes than you, you have a case. To get the comps you need to look at the public record.
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| Posted 5/22/07 9:48 AM |
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ml110
LIF Adult
Member since 1/06 5435 total posts
Name:
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Re: How can you tell if taxes can be grieved?
i think they can always be grieved... i know my FIL does it ALL the time! hes a pilot, so he has a lot of time on his hands... he does his research. looks at the other ones in the area, and also points out certain thigns about his house that should lower the taxes ( one room doesn't have a closet, so he argues that it shouldn't be taxed as another bedroom, etc, etc) basically, i think they just lower them to get him to go away- LOL ( he can be a pain ). all i know is that his house is worth $150 K MORE than ours, and he pays less taxes than we do! and hes in a "better" town, too! of course, this is all in NJ, so i'm not sure if NY would be different...
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| Posted 5/22/07 11:39 AM |
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lulugrrl
My 3 Blessings
Member since 3/06 6551 total posts
Name:
L
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Re: How can you tell if taxes can be grieved?
i just used a tax greivance service, we shall see how it goes.
PS my house did appraise for more than what I paid.
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| Posted 5/22/07 12:12 PM |
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JldDolphin
Member since 1/07 6929 total posts
Name:
Jen
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Re: How can you tell if taxes can be grieved?
Posted by SweetTooth
the easiest way is to use a tax greivance service. the harder way is to do your own research. Call the town and find out what your house is assessed at. If you just bought your house and it is assessed for higher than what you paid, then you have an easy case. But if you bought a while ago, you need to find out the comps in your area and what they are assessed at and what taxes they are paying. If the comps are paying lower taxes than you, you have a case. To get the comps you need to look at the public record.
We are in the process of buying a house and we were told what the house taxes were based on, which is lower then the price we are paying. Does that make a difference? And how do you go about finding a Grievance Service? Never heard of that before. When I spoke with the Town of Babylon they said that we can speak with an "Assessor" first, before we grieve the taxes. Is that not the right way to go or should you use a Grievance Service? TIA!
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| Posted 5/22/07 2:24 PM |
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SweetTooth
I'm a tired mommy!
Member since 12/05 20105 total posts
Name:
Lauren
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Re: How can you tell if taxes can be grieved?
Posted by JldDolphin
Posted by SweetTooth
the easiest way is to use a tax greivance service. the harder way is to do your own research. Call the town and find out what your house is assessed at. If you just bought your house and it is assessed for higher than what you paid, then you have an easy case. But if you bought a while ago, you need to find out the comps in your area and what they are assessed at and what taxes they are paying. If the comps are paying lower taxes than you, you have a case. To get the comps you need to look at the public record.
We are in the process of buying a house and we were told what the house taxes were based on, which is lower then the price we are paying. Does that make a difference? And how do you go about finding a Grievance Service? Never heard of that before. When I spoke with the Town of Babylon they said that we can speak with an "Assessor" first, before we grieve the taxes. Is that not the right way to go or should you use a Grievance Service? TIA!
if the house is assessed for lower than what you are paying, then you might not have a case. Basically this means you are paying more than the town thinks the house is worth - and the number the town thinks ths house is worth is what the taxes are based on (this doesn't mean you are over paying for the house, so don't worry).
What you need to do is find out what comparable houses in the area are assessed at and what they taxes they are paying are.
A tax greivance service (like Mark Lewis) will do this research for you. Or you can do the research yourself and save the $$. I believe Mark Lewis charges you the amount of money you will save in one year of taxes - for example if you were paying $10,000/year and after grieving you pay $9,000 a year, they would charge you $1,000 for the service.
ETA: you have a lot of time to do research, the "tax greivance" day just passed, and only comes once a year.
Message edited 5/22/2007 2:58:34 PM.
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| Posted 5/22/07 2:57 PM |
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JldDolphin
Member since 1/07 6929 total posts
Name:
Jen
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Re: How can you tell if taxes can be grieved?
Posted by SweetTooth
Posted by JldDolphin
Posted by SweetTooth
the easiest way is to use a tax greivance service. the harder way is to do your own research. Call the town and find out what your house is assessed at. If you just bought your house and it is assessed for higher than what you paid, then you have an easy case. But if you bought a while ago, you need to find out the comps in your area and what they are assessed at and what taxes they are paying. If the comps are paying lower taxes than you, you have a case. To get the comps you need to look at the public record.
We are in the process of buying a house and we were told what the house taxes were based on, which is lower then the price we are paying. Does that make a difference? And how do you go about finding a Grievance Service? Never heard of that before. When I spoke with the Town of Babylon they said that we can speak with an "Assessor" first, before we grieve the taxes. Is that not the right way to go or should you use a Grievance Service? TIA!
if the house is assessed for lower than what you are paying, then you might not have a case. Basically this means you are paying more than the town thinks the house is worth - and the number the town thinks ths house is worth is what the taxes are based on (this doesn't mean you are over paying for the house, so don't worry).
What you need to do is find out what comparable houses in the area are assessed at and what they taxes they are paying are.
A tax greivance service (like Mark Lewis) will do this research for you. Or you can do the research yourself and save the $$. I believe Mark Lewis charges you the amount of money you will save in one year of taxes - for example if you were paying $10,000/year and after grieving you pay $9,000 a year, they would charge you $1,000 for the service.
ETA: you have a lot of time to do research, the "tax greivance" day just passed, and only comes once a year.
Town of Babylon told me when I called to see what the taxes were for this year. She told me what the taxes were based on and that price was lower then what we are paying for the house, but I don't know when the last assesment was either. We have seen comps in the area already and it seems that some of them are lower then ours, so I think we will grieve them next year then.  
How do you go about doing your own research to grieve them? Are there websites for Suffolk county that we can look at?
Thanks for your help Lauren! 
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| Posted 5/22/07 4:51 PM |
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Dani00518
Gorgeous
Member since 5/05 2730 total posts
Name:
Danielle
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Re: How can you tell if taxes can be grieved?Updated with another question.
Thanks for your responses.....I have another question.....DH and I are interested in this house but the taxes are really high which is holding us back a bit......When I looked on mynassauproperty the house is being assessed for about 40K more than the asking price....so you think I would have a chance to grieve then if the house is purchased for a lot less? Other houses on the block seemed to have generally the same taxes...maybe about 500 less but they also sold for close to what they were assessed for.
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| Posted 5/23/07 11:03 AM |
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SweetTooth
I'm a tired mommy!
Member since 12/05 20105 total posts
Name:
Lauren
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Re: How can you tell if taxes can be grieved?Updated with another question
Posted by Dani00518
Thanks for your responses.....I have another question.....DH and I are interested in this house but the taxes are really high which is holding us back a bit......When I looked on mynassauproperty the house is being assessed for about 40K more than the asking price....so you think I would have a chance to grieve then if the house is purchased for a lot less? Other houses on the block seemed to have generally the same taxes...maybe about 500 less but they also sold for close to what they were assessed for.
yes if the house is purchased for less than the assessed value you definitely have a case.
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| Posted 5/23/07 11:07 AM |
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SweetTooth
I'm a tired mommy!
Member since 12/05 20105 total posts
Name:
Lauren
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Re: How can you tell if taxes can be grieved?Updated with another question
Posted by JldDolphin
[Town of Babylon told me when I called to see what the taxes were for this year. She told me what the taxes were based on and that price was lower then what we are paying for the house, but I don't know when the last assesment was either. We have seen comps in the area already and it seems that some of them are lower then ours, so I think we will grieve them next year then.
How do you go about doing your own research to grieve them? Are there websites for Suffolk county that we can look at?
Thanks for your help Lauren!
Unfortunately, Suffolk County doesn't really have a site to check out the public records like Nassau does. I think they are working on it, but for right now you'd have to go down to town hall and check out the public records there.
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| Posted 5/23/07 11:08 AM |
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JldDolphin
Member since 1/07 6929 total posts
Name:
Jen
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Re: How can you tell if taxes can be grieved?Updated with another question
Posted by SweetTooth
Posted by JldDolphin
[Town of Babylon told me when I called to see what the taxes were for this year. She told me what the taxes were based on and that price was lower then what we are paying for the house, but I don't know when the last assesment was either. We have seen comps in the area already and it seems that some of them are lower then ours, so I think we will grieve them next year then.
How do you go about doing your own research to grieve them? Are there websites for Suffolk county that we can look at?
Thanks for your help Lauren!
Unfortunately, Suffolk County doesn't really have a site to check out the public records like Nassau does. I think they are working on it, but for right now you'd have to go down to town hall and check out the public records there.
Thanks Lauren! Appreciate the info! 
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| Posted 5/23/07 2:27 PM |
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