Fighting the property tax value of home?

Question

Is it worth trying to get the County auditor to lower the market value for tax purposes of your home in order to try to save on property taxes. I can see the advatage if you can get it lower your bill will be less but also the tax value does come into the play when you go to sell. So how important is tax value when valueing your house to selll.

Answer 1

Not very.  You can have it independently appraised when its time to sell.

Do whatever you can to lower the value in the meantime.

Edit:  In fact, I would argue that the lower the property is valued by the county, the more valuable the property is, because the tax bill will be lower for the new owner.  You use the independant appraisal and common sense to justify the price you actually sell for.

Answer 2

It always pays to fight the county auditor unless your savings will be less than what you would lose if you have to miss work and you are an hourly employee.  

When you sell your home the lender will automatically ask for an appraisal - no matter what the county has appraised it for.  That is only for tax purposes.  The lenders appraisal is what is used to value the amount the borrower will get to purchase your home.  If you are asking too much the borrower has to come up with the difference.  The two values, county appraisers and lenders appraisers are two entirely different things.  One is for tax purposes and one is for lending purposes.

Answer 3

Most states are taxing by property value.  You get homestead relief in most states.  They appraise by what the property in surrounding areas sells for.  This is a new system don't know if it fair or not, but seems to be the way we are headed.

Answer 4

Hi,

A lower tax assessment is a good selling point. I don't know of anyone who has complained or been turned off by the county assessing a property lower than the true fair market value. Usually, this is considered a bonus. My recommendation to you is to go ahead and try to get it lowered. The Realtor can give you a better idea of what your house is worth when you go to sell. An independent appraiser can give you the true value when compared to other homes like yours in your area that have sold recently.

Conversely, it would turn potential buyers off if the assessment was unreasonably high.

I hope this helps.

Answer 5

First, is the house really appraised higher than it would sell for now?  In other words, would you sell the house for less than the value the assessor (not auditor in most areas) has placed on it?

If you can answer yes, then collect your facts (with documentation), fill out the form and file it.  You will probably need to go before a board of equalization, which will decide your case.  It is something you can handle yourself but it is time-consuming.  I've done it successfully a couple of times and I have no particular expertise so you can do it, too.