1000SqFt Retirement/ Tax Accessor

[dcg9381]

We are in Illinois and tried an appeal and had comps. As I recall we got a small reduction the first year and then a raise the next so it appeared to give only a small reduction for 1 year.

I'm dealing with 400% swings that are not capped. I'll win one year, but face the same assessment the next year and have to go through the process again. This next year I'm going to point out prior results of the informal hearings and ask why I have to do this every year? There is a law here that says in a year AFTER a reduction, if they increase the value, the county has a higher burden of proof, but the ARB boards are "informal" and again, not attorneys, so they've ignored it before.

Never heard of businesses for appeals but that's an interesting thing. There is an 80 foot deep ravine that runs through the property and they consider all the land area the same - no reduction in the rate for what cannot be used for building.

Here, assessments are on the property and the value of improvements. Find comps with properties with ravines or otherwise "unbuildable" space (perhaps things that are in floodplain, etc) - if you can show the value of that property is less, that should help. You can also show that their comps against properties without ravines are not "comparable". Property here on steep slopes and unbuildable space is inherently worth less.. How much less is up for discussion.

 

[billconner]

I guess sales history being public varies state to state but in NY, Zillow etc. reports the sales history.

 

[reader2580]

It appears in Minnesota that property sales need to be reported to the county, and that data is public. Many sellers/buyers of commercial properties won't reveal the purchase price for a sale. It doesn't really matter because the sale price will become public as soon as it is filed with the county. My employer sold a bunch of property and refused to reveal the sale price. The sale price came out as soon as the paperwork was filed with the county.

 

[My Old Tools]

About 15 years ago i had 11 acres and a small house. My land was re-assessed at about 4x, $10,000 an acre. I learned how to query the appraisal online database. I found a bunch of "good old boy" appraisals, one about 100 yards from me, owned by one of the county's developers. I printed out about 20, starting with the close one, and headed to the appraisal district office. The appraiser looked at my stack and knew I was trouble. He looked at the close one and wanted me gone. He asked if I did any ag. I told him I applied for ag last year on my bees , and you turned me down (this was before the change in law to include bees as ag). He said "well, we made a mistake didn't we", and proceeded to write me an ag exemption. Suddenly my land was about $100 an acre. Note, ag exemptions normally require 5 years of continuous records.

 

[karoc]

Thanks to all who share their experiences with tax accessor’s I’ve learned lot. My place is in old neighborhood, no deed restrictions, no HOA, no inspections. I purposely purchase land there cause it was cheap and I knew taxes would be lower. But there is a variety of people, some take care place others don’t, some are on disability and others look like good retirement. The county just come through with brush hog kinda clean around ditches but can’t tell it. Coverts that goes across streets the ends are smash in. Road at one time was two lanes but can’t tell it now, have pull over in wide spot so on coming vehicle can get by. There’s been talk that county is going fix all this, but my neighbor there said not anytime soon. Reason for me sharing is I will take pictures and show them when I protest if I feel it’s way out line. Shame we pay them to find reason to raise our taxes, but we’re on our own to protest. But good news is I was told they come around every 5 years, but that won’t stop them from giving their best guess. Good luck with your protest, take pictures of your area, anything that will help lower taxes. Neighborhood can help raise or lower taxes

 

[DeeDubz]

Sounds like you live in California. Out here instead of google maps they fly aircraft over ppls houses. They did it about 3 month ago here.

 

[tez929rr]

Thanks to all who share their experiences with tax accessor’s I’ve learned lot. My place is in old neighborhood, no deed restrictions, no HOA, no inspections. I purposely purchase land there cause it was cheap and I knew taxes would be lower. But there is a variety of people, some take care place others don’t, some are on disability and others look like good retirement. The county just come through with brush hog kinda clean around ditches but can’t tell it. Coverts that goes across streets the ends are smash in. Road at one time was two lanes but can’t tell it now, have pull over in wide spot so on coming vehicle can get by. There’s been talk that county is going fix all this, but my neighbor there said not anytime soon. Reason for me sharing is I will take pictures and show them when I protest if I feel it’s way out line. Shame we pay them to find reason to raise our taxes, but we’re on our own to protest. But good news is I was told they come around every 5 years, but that won’t stop them from giving their best guess. Good luck with your protest, take pictures of your area, anything that will help lower taxes. Neighborhood can help raise or lower taxes

Just remember - the taxing entity doesn’t do appraisals (and can’t change the rules) and the appraisal district can’t tell the county to fix anything. Appraisal districts are essentially third parties. The taxing entity can set the tax rate but that’s all.

We (school board) lowered the tax rate three years in a row and I guarantee 99 percent of taxpayers still don’t know it. And last year with the increased homestead exemption our total assessed value went down.

 

[zak77]

It's not only google maps and flyovers being utilized by more and more communities across the country nowadays. People complain when they get a visit in person and they complain about virtual inspections. All of this is to simply try to get fair assessments since everyone wants to play the cat and mouse game of trying to hide everything they can. Just think, would you like it if you were paying your fair share but your neighbor had a massive garage they were'nt paying taxes on?

NCTech for Assessors

VIRTUALIZING THE WORLD

storymaps.arcgis.com

 

[ericm]

Sounds like you live in California. Out here instead of google maps they fly aircraft over ppls houses. They did it about 3 month ago here.

Must be something that's local to you. It's never happened anywhere I've lived in CA. Prop 13 keeps them from raising the valuation much. The actual market value nearly always goes up more than the prop 13 limit so there's no incentive for them to look for ways to raise it further.

 

[reader2580]

Must be something that's local to you. It's never happened anywhere I've lived in CA. Prop 13 keeps them from raising the valuation much. The actual market value nearly always goes up more than the prop 13 limit so there's no incentive for them to look for ways to raise it further.

Are those planes possibly looking for changes to properties that would result in the property owner owing more in taxes?