Real Estate Taxes: Finding Assessment Loopholes
submitted: Aug 21st 2008 |
by: GeorgeEvers |
Total views: 1 |
Word Count: 456 |
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Blanket assessments are made in a community to re-assess the property tax. Little time is allowed for this approximation of value and inaccuracies often creep in. It's not unusual that a multiplier factor is used to adjust property values.
Ask yourself: if you were an appraisal company bidding on a municipal revaluation contract and your winning bid had only a $40 margin allocated for every home you needed to appraise, how much time would you spend on each property? Being a businessman, you would want to make a profit, so you have to cut out the time spent on each property. Compound that by a hired hand that may have little experience and you could have a hit and miss mess as a result.
Property tax assessments derived from blanket assessment abound with errors. These estimations of value are even derived by multipliers of the previous year?s assessment. If the original assessment was wrong, multiplying that assessment adds nothing to clarify the value.
An inexpensive fix for the town could come about if building inspectors and the tax department communicated closely by working together. If the building inspector passed on information to the assessor, there would be no need for blanket re-assessments. New homes sold need only be equalized with the previous blanket assessment. If an addition or home improvement took place, the added value could be passed on to the tax assessor. If the building department and tax department worked efficiently, there would be no need for blanket reassessments.
A tax assessor has little time to appraise a home and usually do not engage in that activity. Tax assessors are often politically appointed and are not trained and experienced real estate appraisers. Their usual method of deriving value is based on a cost basis instead of a market value approach. The market value approach is based on what an informed buyer would pay for the home, not what it cost to build it.
When contesting property taxes, only market appraisals count. When your home's price is in alignment with the current selling price of comparable homes in the neighborhood, the values tend to be accurate. Selling prices are dynamic and change all the time.
A huge amount of money is spent on blanket municipal appraisals. Sure they may catch the occasional patio or shed built without a permit, but that does not warrant the extra appraisal cost.
Blanket reassessment make for a gigantic loophole for homeowners to challenge their property taxes. Half of all property appraisals are in error according to the experts. By doing a simple analysis you can deterring if your home is out of line with what the figures should be. You can save thousands of dollars by appealing your taxes.
About the Author
By you employing the right comparables and adjustment figures, you target the real areas for real estate tax appeal that maximize your property tax reduction potential. Click http://www.propertytaxax.com for more information.
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