Comments on: The Hidden Benefit of a Depressed Housing Market – Lower Property Taxes

By: Kevin

Kevin — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:45:14 +0000

I recommend that , depending on how your county does its reappraisal, everyone should review their property card once a year. Here I recommend a homeowner to do it every August. The county has done all of the new construction input into the system and errors can be made to the wrong properties. The way the government sees it, it is the homeowner/property owners responsibility to make sure (manage) what is correct on their taxing card. They want things to be correct but sometimes errors do arise. (The homeowner wasn’t there to verify changes or where their boundries are.) With GIS today, it helps them but they are appraisers, not surveyors.
I recommend that if something is wrong, call the assessors office and ask questions on how to get things corrected. They will be helpful, usually. Remember, they have bad apples there also. I know some that will not do things, even if it is wrong and need correcting. Always move up the ladder, to the Assessor if you need to. You elected them.

By: Live Money Smart

Live Money Smart — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:42:33 +0000

Good article, and definitely something many people should look into doing.

Sadly though, because of falling tax revenue in many areas, what Curious Cat suggests might happen is very real. In many areas property tax rates will increase to keep counties and states from losing too much tax revenue. Unfortunately the politicians will refuse to make do with less.

If this happens in your area, it is just another great reason to challenge and reduce your home’s property tax assessment in preparation of higher property tax rates.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 21:39:48 +0000

Very true. In our county, home values are reassessed every three years, though the real estate tax rate can change whenever it is voted upon. A lot can happen during that time, which is why I challenged my assessment.

By: Curious Cat Investing Blog

Curious Cat Investing Blog — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 21:15:43 +0000

Reducing the tax due to a reduction in your specific assessment is a wise move (if you house is worth less than the assessment).

Some people though think that the total tax bill inevitably increases when house values, for the whole market increase. I think we let the politicians off if we say property taxes are determined by the market. When housing prices increased by 20% if the taxes went up by 20% that was a choice of the politicians to raise taxes. The tax rate on property taxes is adjustable and where I am aware of anyway the politicians adjust it annually.

If your home appraisal falls by 10%, your taxes only fall if the tax rate is not increased by over 10%. In most cases this is true (increasing tax rates to make up for declines in home values is usually limited). However, if we fall into thinking our taxes are set by our home appraisal we fail to hold accountable those that truly decide our taxes, the politicians we elect.

By: Jim @ InvestWithLessRisk.com

Jim @ InvestWithLessRisk.com — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 17:24:07 +0000

You are lucky, my rental’s assessed value stayed the same from ‘07 to ‘08 but the county raised my taxes over 8%.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 12:19:02 +0000

Very true, Tom. The variable can change. But in some places a vote is required for the taxes to change, and many people may not be willing to vote for that.

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 05:15:36 +0000

When I owned a condo and values went down, my property taxes rarely went down.
They just changed the factor by which they calculated them.
But, property taxes here in Vancouver are relatively cheap.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 03:41:27 +0000

Carla: I agree. But I also don’t like to pay more money than is necessary. For instance, when I challenged my property tax assessment, my house was listed with the county as having an extra bedroom and more square footage than it had. I don’t believe it necessary for me to continue paying additional money when I am not required to.

Beyond that, I certainly can’t fault someone else for challenging their property taxes when housing prices drop. There are many people who will save thousands of dollars because of this. I think that is a good thing, especially if it means they can pay off debt or continue to afford living in their house instead of selling it or facing foreclosure.