Author Topic: Revaluation, Mill Rate, Property Taxes, Townhomes Galore  (Read 862 times)

BeginningToBudget

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Revaluation, Mill Rate, Property Taxes, Townhomes Galore
« on: January 04, 2021, 10:50:35 PM »
Good Evening!

I'm a newer townhome owner and was notified that per State Law a revaluation of all property in my city was required for 2020. Per the notification, the purpose of the revaluation was to decrease the mill rate. Which would supposedly not affect the amount of taxes collected by increase our assessed value of the city.

I just received my tax bill yesterday and my property taxes have increased by 22%. The only thing that's changed on my bill is my Average Assessment Ratio and my Net Assessed Value Rate. I'm not really certain what either of those things are but am assuming they have something to do with my revaluation.

So i've been digging into the revaluations in my areas and am wondering if anyone has some advice, as I think the assessment were done incorrectly and it has ultimately hurt me and possibly benefited my neighbors. I don't necessarily thing requesting an appeal on my property will help as I think the issue is how they assessed the other properties and not mine.

We have 4 styles of Townhomes in our neighborhood. I have the smallest layout of the four, which on average is currently selling for ~180k and was assessed at 190k.

The largest layout of the four, currently sells for ~245K and was assessed at 204k.

The property assessment for all 4 layouts is identical, even though we all have different square footages and tiny personal yards/decks.

The fact that my unit is being evaluated as worth more than we are able to sell them for but the other units are being assessed below what they are able to sell them for doesn't make sense to me.

Any advice on if there is anything I can do? Or where to start? The assessor provided a phone number to contact them in cases of minor errors. However, all of the information in my assessment is accurate, unless I can somehow point to the other units that have incorrect assessments.

Or maybe 2020 was just extra awful and taxes were supposed to increased by 22% but that seems a little odd to me.

Thanks in advance for any advice or additional educational resources.


jrhampt

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Re: Revaluation, Mill Rate, Property Taxes, Townhomes Galore
« Reply #1 on: January 05, 2021, 06:35:41 AM »
I'd start with Town Hall.  There's an appeals process you should be able to go through there.

Michael in ABQ

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Re: Revaluation, Mill Rate, Property Taxes, Townhomes Galore
« Reply #2 on: January 05, 2021, 06:54:10 AM »
Former real estate appraiser here, though I only did commercial property, not residential. The laws and regulations vary from state to state and even within states but there is virtually always an appeal process for property taxes. In almost every case you as the homeowner can present your case or hire someone to do it on your behalf. In the latter case they usually work on contingency and take 33-50% of the savings. So if you get your assessment reduced from $190 to $180k that's probably not going to be enough of a difference to hire someone.

There are usually a few ways you can appeal a property tax assessment. How much information you will need to provide and in what method (an online form, a letter, an in-person hearing, an independent appraisal, etc.) depends on your local jurisdiction and should be spelled out somewhere on the Assessor's website.

1. Correct actual errors in their record, i.e. wrong size, year built, number of beds/baths, construction material/type, etc.

2. Provide proof that your house or one extremely similar sold recently for a lower price. This is much harder if it's not your house and a recent sale as there could be any number of factors such as a distressed sale, recent renovation, different options chosen from the builder even if the home looks identical from the outside, etc.

3. Challenge qualitative differences i.e. Assessor rated your home as "good" condition but it is 50 years old and still has the original finishes that are worn and outdated so a condition of "average" or "fair" would be more accurate.

4. Challenge the overall fairness, i.e. a model-match home down the street is assessed for less than yours. In theory they should be identical.

uniwelder

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Re: Revaluation, Mill Rate, Property Taxes, Townhomes Galore
« Reply #3 on: January 05, 2021, 07:13:58 AM »
Take my advice lightly.  I've only contested my property value once (in the past month, don't have final value yet) but when I talked to the person at the assessment office, they were very helpful and polite.

Building on what @Michael in ABQ said, it sounds like option #4 is what applies according to your posting.  Use the assessed value of the other houses, showing their sq footage, etc, as a comparison as to why yours is unfairly valued.  Make a list of 1) the addresses of other townhouses that sold in the past year, 2) their sale price, 3) their assessed value, and 4) their sq footage.  Run through the numbers a little bit, comparing ratio of sales price to assessed value, or assessed value to sq footage, or whatever else seems to make sense.  Then apply this ratio to your townhouse and propose a value that makes sense to your property.

The property assessment for all 4 layouts is identical, even though we all have different square footages and tiny personal yards/decks.

What's the difference in land area?  Does it comprise a significant portion of the total value?