property tax appeal denied

 

   The last time we purchased a house, the city set the property
valuation at the most recent sales price for about 3 years
automatically, before it started inching up a bit.

   This time around, me moved to a new city, and we purchased a house at
public auction through HUD.  We got the high bid at public auction, and
I thought it would be a similar situation - submit complaint against
their valuation of the property, along with proof of the amount paid as
highest in a public auction for the property.

   After waiting 4 months (they supposedly misplaced my original hearing
info, and had to set a new date when I called to ask for the results),
today I got their answer in a certified letter: no change at all.  This
is despite the fact that several years before we bought it, it sold for
$113K+, and we got it for $60k this year. (including roughly $6k paid as
commision to real estate agent)

   Since we paid roughly 47% less than it had sold for a number of years
back, I figured that conservatively at least a 1/3 decrease in our
property taxes could be expected.  In fact, I counted on this, since the
taxes on the last place we owned were based on exactly how much we had
paid.  I assumed this was normal, since it was quite easy to show how
much was paid, and further, since a public auction leaves a very public
record of how much buyers are willing to pay for a property. (hence, its
value)

   Technically, since the purchase, repairs have been done that would
likely increase the value of the property.  In fact, these repairs were
part of the rehab loan, and became part of our mortgage.  However, even
if I used this more pessimistic valuation, or mortgage total is only
$80k - and should still merit a significant discount on the property
valuation.

   Now I'm told that "have the right to appeal" within 30 days if I
would like to.  Yes, I would like to.  However, I'm not sure which route
would be the best way to go:

A) Ohio Board of Tax Appeals

or

B) Montgomery County Common Pleas

   I'm also not sure if a negative judgment in one of those would
preclude us from using the other?

   I guess I was assuming this would be fairly easy, with the
straightforward and recent purchase price info I had submitted, showing
how much we paid for the place at a public auction.

   Anyone ever gone through this sort of thing before?  If it were you,
what steps would you take to make your case?

   If I succeed, I should be able to save somewhere between 30% and 45%
off of our annual property taxes.

 

On 8/18/2010 11:52 AM, Ohioguy wrote:

In theory it is an appraisal, in practice it is comps and may take a
while to catch up. Have you looked to see taxes your neighbors are
paying? Are you out of line? What do sales look like?

   Sales can be all over the place, what is selling now is on the cheap,
and much of that is cash as mortgages aren't easy to come by. Hardly
fair market value.

   I have a house I'm buying for $17K assessed at $131K, the math is
different now.

   Jeff

 



Unfortunately, that is the way it is in America now. We just built a
house (2 measly bedrooms and 1 bath), and are way over-assessed at
130,000. So we went to the worthless Town of Sullivan assessor board
and had all the comps (sales and non-sales), put out in a spreadsheet,
that was easy to follow and guess what the board did? Nothing. It
looked at none of the documents and uniformily dropped 5k from
everyone's assessment that had come to complain. Yes, that was fair.
Oh, and they also lost our other assessment complaint for a vacant lot
and I had to call later and yell at the assessor. Useless. Senile.
Incompetent. I told the assessor that I want to be on the board to get
rid of those worthless people - surprise! I never heard back from her.

Anyways we are now appealing the decision.


The same with us. It cost us about $103,000 for the house (modular),
and another 40,000 for the foundation, excavating and utilities.
Everyone knows you can't sell your house for what you paid to build
it. It's the same as if you bought a new car and expected to sell it
for the price you paid. Ha, ha, ha. This is not 2006.

Assessment is the fair market price someone would pay for the house.
That's it. Not what you could build it for.


Not sure how Ohio works but in NY we're going small claims (Small
Claims Assessment Review). It probably doesn't matter which way you go
as long as you have all your comps and sales comps set out. All they
look at is comps. Or... they should. Again, in our case, the town
board looked at nothing, which is why we are appealing. Now we are
having a hearing with an appraiser (which should be fun). Any
appraiser with a brain would conclude that a 2 bdrm, 1 bath house on a
.19 acre lot in a crappy area of town is not worth 130,000. But then
people can do whatever they want to do.


We're going through this now - the hearing is next week (after we
dropped the first hearing officer who was a liar and useless as a
post). I expect that the hearing will allow us to present our side
showing all the comps and sale comps, plus our explanation of why we
are suing, since the town assessor board is incompetent and unfair. I
know the assessor will counter with the argument that all the comps
should be assessed higher, but that doesn't matter to us, since until
ALL PROPRETIES are reassessed, our property has to be fairly assessed
with the current assessments of comp properties.

Also, make sure you read the laws and rules regarding what documents
you need to send in and to whom, since the other side can get the case
dismissed if you don't dot all your i's and cross your t's. It's
fairly simply, but takes time to compile all the stats and of course
it's going to cost you some money ($30 in our case to file).

In the hearing state your case clearly and concisely. A spreadsheet
showing your property vis-a-vis all other comps is perfect for the
hearing officer (he/she just might read it!). Let the assessor state
its side and then counter any points the assessor makes to wrap up.

We hope to save about the same amount on our property taxes, which in
NY is substantial.

Oh, BTW, we just got a letter in the mail from the assessor, stating
she is reassessing all the properties in the town. HA HA HA! Can't
wait to see that happen. She just did that because of our court case.
We are the ONLY people who have ever appealed in the town.

 

Ohioguy wrote:


I've done it in King County, WA, but not in OH.  Follow the appeals
process that is outlined on your assessment TO THE LETTER.  Send all
correspondence via certified mail, return receipt, and keep copies.

While a real estate agent's "market analysis" may be of some help, I
found out the hard way that only a formal appraisal will be fully
recognized by the appeal board.  If the cost of the appraisal is more
than the tax savings, there is little sense in filing the appeal.

 


STFU and pay what you owe!