noob to the whole property tax thang.....

[vecnadeit]

So, can some one explain the importance of my property taxes? they went up from 27K to 67K, but that's probably because there is a house where last year there was only land. Is that too high? How do I know what to argue?

*confused*

Can someone please explain it all to me?

Comments

[cowboyzydeco]

I wish I had some advice to give you, but I had zero success arguing mine my first year of ownership. (This is your first year, right? I forget.) In my case, the problem was that the Homestead Exemption takes a year to kick in. (If you haven't filled out your Homestead Exemption, do it NOW. They cheerfully took mine several weeks late. Can't remember the deadlines now.) So they royally ream you during that first year, before you're exempt from rapacious assessed property value (and thus property tax) increases

[cowboyzydeco]

So, I was nailed. I am surprised at the huge increase in your case. My increase was precisely 20%. I'm afraid I don't know if that 20% is some kind of hard coded limit in the tax laws, or if it was picked arbitrarily by the tax assessor. You may have a little more leeway for argument. Here's what I would do

[cowboyzydeco]

If you're not satisfied with this pre-hearing, you have a right to a formal hearing. (No lawyers needed, I don't think.) I didn't bother, because I didn't have a leg to stand on. He did tell me that there is some chance that your assessed value can increase if they find that your property is worth more than assessed (by, for example, your paying more to purchase). I don't know how likely this really is- it may have been a minor cautionary tactic to pursuade me not to waste time on the formal hearing, since I had nothing to merit one.

Well, that's all I know about it.

[cowboyzydeco]

Welll, crap. Okay, "reading comprehension" is the secret phrase for the day. Coulda saved myself about 45 minutes of typing. (Anna, did you delete your comment?)

If you built a new house on empty land, most of the above is inapplicable. Yeah, check their math and their appraised values for land and improvement. See how much the land went up, anyway.

[annalra]

I didn't make one. Aaron was logged in as me on his computer for some reason. How odd...