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County Property Tax Appeal Appraisal Services Should you file a real property tax appeal with the county? Should you have your property reappraised ? The county assessed value of your real estate should equal what the property would easily sell for (appraised value). If the assessed value exceeds what the property would easily sell for you should file an appeal with the county. If the property is affected by a diminution in value caused by declining prices and market conditions, detrimental conditions i.e. cracked slab, landslide, construction defects, condemnation, environmental problems, or other causes you should file an appeal. Property tax appeals can be filed on any real estate including a home, ranch, vacant land, apartment building, commercial, industrial, or special use property. 1. The first step before you file a real property tax appeal. You should get a well documented appraisal prepared by an certified appraiser familiar with county assessment procedures who holds a professional designation from a national appraisal organization experienced in appraisal methodologies for assessment appeals. Please note, you must give the appraiser adequate time to prepare your appraisal generally 1 to 3 weeks depending on work load. 2. Second step, under the Public Records Act (Government Code Section 6250) and The Information Practices Act (Civil Code section 1798) make a written request for a copy of the appraisal used by the county assessor to determine your assessed value. The first requires the State Board of Equalization to make certain records available to everyone and the later governs individual taxpayer's rights to see their own records. Generally, the county assessor should comply within 10 days. You will be up against experienced appraisers that work for the county assessors office. If you are not experienced in appraisal methodology and you show up with just a print out of comparable sales without a certified documented appraisal utilizing the appropriate methods, research, and approaches to value to arrive at a credible value conclusion, your chances of a successful appeal are greatly diminished. Without a well documented certified appraisal from an experienced appraiser holding a professional designation from a nationally recognized organization, you will significantly limit your chances of a successful assessment appeal. Did you know ? 1. The County Appeals Board operates under the presumption that the County Assessor is correct in their assessment of your property. In addition, many times the board of appeals is made up of at least one former or active real estate appraiser. 2. You must provide substantial evidence (an appraisal) utilizing the appropriate appraisal methodologies to support your real property assessment appeal claim. As an appraisal expert and designated member of the Appraisal Institute we can both review the assesors appraisal report and provide you with a well researched and documented appraisal of your property. In addition, our appraisers are the most qualified to question the appraisal methodology used by the Assessor in determining the assessed value of your property. 3. An experienced appraiser can determine if the appraisal by the county assessor is in compliance with current appraisal methodology and assessment practices. The key to challenging your real property assessment is to provide well documented "evidence" so you have the documentation you need to be able to refute inaccurate technical valuation claims that may be made by the assessor. A reappraisal by an experienced expert appraiser and Member of the Appraisal Institute can provide the documented "evidence" you need in challenging your property tax assessment. In defense of the appraisal prepared for you, the ability to cross exam the County Appraiser by a real estate appraisal expert can often times make the difference of whether your tax assessment appeal is successful or not. 4. When filing the appeal you should request a finding of fact in writing and submit it to the clerk. This requires the assessment appeals board to discuss all of the material points raised by the application and typically requires a statement by the board of which appraisal methods were used to determine the appraised value of your property The first step in any property tax assessment appeal is to have a reappraisal of your real estate by an expert to provide documented evidence of your property value. To get property tax information APN #'s, taxes, due dates, and assessed values on any property just enter the address of the property. (Click on the county below for PROPERTY TAX INFORMATION ) |