Differing property taxes within a neighborhood?

Question

There is house I am interested in buying,and I have a question about the property taxes. (I'm in NY state btw). The taxes for this house are $3865, BUT the house next door is also for sale and its taxes are only $1200. Why is this? The house next door costs $15,000 more and has more square footage. It's in the same neighborhood so I don't understand why it would be so much less. Is there anyone I contact regarding the high property taxes?

Thanks in advance. ^.^

Answer 1

This happens all the time. It's great if you're the one getting a deal but sucks if yours is the one that's high.

What happens is the county assessor originally assesses the value of a home according to the builder's specs. Every year they're supposed to update the assessed value but the county doesn't have the manpower to physically visit every home in the county.

So they do book appraisals and resort to formulas to arrive at an estimated value. When a property sells that helps them get a more accurate value too. The problem is people make improvements and it may have been quite awhile since the property was sold so assessed values often are not accurate.

Beefing about it often doesn't lower the house with the high assessed value but only results in raising the low one. There could be a mistake however. For example, when I bought my home the county said it had 4 bathrooms when it really had 2. That's a legitimate reason to take a look at lowering the assessed value.

Answer 2

contact the city/county treasurer & as if a re-assessment has been done/could be done & tell them about the house next door.