What is the disadvantage to apply for property tax reduction?

Question

I have received letters from different componies to have them apply in my behalf to reassess my home to bring down my property tax. knowing that in future I am going to have to remodle and I need to get a second loan to be able to pay for it. what would be the disatvantage of having my property reassess and the property tax reduce. Thank you

Answer 1

The possible disadvantage is that they charge a fee, which is not nominal, and actually getting a reduction is not by any means a sure thing even if they make it sound like it is going to happen.

If you think your house is assessed too high, you can do the research yourself to see what comparable houses are assessed at, and request a hearing on it.

Answer 2

There's really no downside to this, aside from the fee that you'll pay the company to do something that you could fairly easily do yourself at little or no cost.

Even if the assessed value is reduced, it won't affect future loans much if at all.  Any time you pledge real estate to guarantee a loan, the lender will secure an independent appraisal of the property regardless of what the appraised value is for tax purposes.  And the truth is that the assessed value for tax purposes may not bear any real relationship to the fair market value of the home.  Lenders rarely if ever use assessed value in making the determination on a loan.