Should I challenge my Property Tax Assessment?

Question

I just received a form in the mail - my recently purchased condo has a tax assessment value placed on it by the county at $256,000. This is very odd- since I paid $200,000 for it back in April of this year. Other units in my complex have recently sold for even less than what I paid.

My question is this: How did the county come up with that figure, seeing how values have dropped even lower than what I paid earlier this year? Should I fill out the appropriate paperwork and contest this figure? California property tax is about 1% of the value per year - so we're talking at least $560... possibly more. Would I have to challenge this assessment value every year as well?

Thanks for all your help.

Answer 1

I dont know how things work in California, but here in Texas (just west of Houston) our property taxes are around 4% and I challenge my assessment every year - the county seems to automatically increase our assessed value by 10% each year (thats the max they are legally allowed to raise it) and if it goes unchallenged, the assessed values vs market values would get seriously out of whack.

When we moved into our new house 3 years ago, the county had it recorded as a builders model home, which it wasn't, but it automatically gave it a 10% uplift for that, then we had another 10% uplift for unspecified reasons...I challenged both and got both removed. That was close to a 100k redcution, which at 4% was worth the 2-3 hours it took.  But to keep it in line with current resale values and also current assessed values in the neighbourhood, we need to challenge it every single year..its a bit of a pain, but if we didn't do it, we'd end up like our neighbour over the road who is in a smaller house, smaller yard, non-lake lot and his assessment is now almost 200k higher than ours and the rest of the neighbourhood because he "doesn't have time to challenge it...."

I have one friend who never challenges, and frowns on us for doing so saying we should pay what we are due to pay. My view is that I'm not trying to avoid paying my dues, but I dont think I should pay more than my due, so by challenging it, I make sure that I stay in line with (most of) the rest of the neighbourhood.

Answer 2

Can't hurt to appeal it.  Assessments don't necessarily match selling prices though - what you'll need to be successful is to show that comparable properties are assessed lower.

Good luck.