Honey, Can We Lower Our Property Taxes?

Monday, September 15th was the deadline to appeal your property taxes. There was a flood of coverage about the deadline and my wonderful, loving husband asked me, “Honey, can we apply to reduce our property taxes?” Being the patient and loving wife that I am, I ignored the fact that he has asked me this question 3 times! It’s okay, I know that many people are discussing this and if my husband, spouse to a Realtor, insists upon asking several times, maybe I should explain for everyone’s benefit.

Next time he asks, I’ll just send him a link to my blog!

We’ll use the example of my home. We purchased our home in February 2002 and our assessed value has gone up 2% every year since the time we purchased it. To figure out your assessed value, the general calculation is the purchase price + 2% annually (unless you’ve had increased assessments due to improvements like a pool or an addition) but you can also look for the assessed value on your property tax bill.

The purpose of the appeal to reduce taxes in the case that current market value is less than assessed value. Remember, the assessed value is how they calculate your property taxes. In our example, our assessed value of the February ‘02 purchase price is still less than market value so there is no need to file an appeal for property taxes.

As of right now, we are currently at November 2003 pricing. If you purchased your home prior to November 2003, you are not likely to qualify for a reduction in your property taxes.

For More Information About Assessment Appeals and Property Taxes, check out the following links: