Should you be paying less property taxes?
Can there actually be a bright spot in the current housing market? Home values in many areas have plummeted in recent months leaving many families with little or no equity in their homes. There is also no end in sight from this recent disaster. It appears that we may still be in the beginning phase of the housing crisis.
With all this said there may be a small advantage of the crisis for some people. Property taxes are based on the accessed value of your home and if the value of your home is decreasing then so should your property taxes. Now, the PVA or property valuation administrator isn’t just going to give you a discount on your property taxes, you are going to have to do a little work.
First, you have to be sure that the value of your home has actually declined. We realized this when we tried to refinance our home for a second mortgage to pay a down payment on some land we intended to purchase. After getting the appraisal back we realized that our home wasn’t worth as much as the PVA had it valued. It may not be worth paying for an appraisal because this can cost several hundreds of dollars, but with a little market research you can get a good idea of how much your house is worth.
You may want to consider doing your own detailed appraisal on a spreadsheet to help sway the PVA’s opinion. Include other home values that are comparable to yours, take detailed photos of your home and other surroundings. Try to find recent home sale prices in your neighborhood and compare them to your home based on the square footage, age, etc.
The next step is to contact the PVA and let them know your concern. They still aren’t going to automatically adjust the value of your home based on your findings. They will review the information you give them and then reevaluate the value of your home based on their own apprasials.
If you still disagree with their findings then you can probably take legal actions and have the situation accessed by an independent review board. This however can start costing a lot of money, but if you are overpaying taxes by a large amount it may be worth the extra cash.