How to Find House Values to Appeal My Property Taxes
Opening your property tax bill can be quite a shock, if it is larger than you expect. I also can be quite a shock to your bank account. While you can't control the property tax rate used to calculate your property taxes, you can appeal your property assessment. If you can get your taxing authority to accept a lower assessment for your property, it will lower your property taxes owed.
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Instructions
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Ask a real estate agent for a list of comparable properties to yours. The real estate agent will help you select the properties from the multiple listing service that most closely match your property. The agent will look at things like the size of the land, the location of the property, the size of the house and the number of rooms in the house.
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Select the properties that have sold recently. In order to make a strong case for reassessing your property downward in value, you need look at the value for which properties are being sold. Owners can ask whatever they want for their property, but what matters is what someone else is willing to pay. Find properties that have sold within the past quarter to have the most impact.
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Ask a tax assessor for the assessed values of the comparable homes you select. You will need the addresses of the comparable homes. You might have to go to your local tax assessor's office and ask for the assessed values, but some states offer online databases that allow you to search for property assessments on line.
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Check when the most recent assessment on the property was done. Some states reassess properties every few years and phase in any changes. The more recently the assessment has been done, the more likely the assessment is to reflect the current market conditions.
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Collect all of your information to make your case. Put together a chart or table showing the comparable property address, the size of the property, the size of the house, the sale value of the house, the age of the house, tax ID number, assessment value and when the assessment was made. You can use this to appeal your property taxes.
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