Any real estate assesment experts here?

[Fly320s]

Got my property assesment from my town this week.  It increased 22% from last year, which is just nucking futs.  All of my neighbors had similarly large increases in their assesments.  This was a mass assesment performed by KRT Appraisal in MA.

I will definitely appeal this and hope all of my neighbors do as well, but I'd like more ammo to use than, "You a-holes are farking full of farking shitt if you think I'm paying this much."

You guys have any tips, tricks, techniques, or prior experience dealing with this? 

[Brad Johnson]

Got my property assesment from my town this week.  It increased 22% from last year, which is just nucking futs.  All of my neighbors had similarly large increases in their assesments.  This was a mass assesment performed by KRT Appraisal in MA.

I will definitely appeal this and hope all of my neighbors do as well, but I'd like more ammo to use than, "You a-holes are farking full of farking shitt if you think I'm paying this much."

You guys have any tips, tricks, techniques, or prior experience dealing with this?  

Sometimes mass assessments are how tax districts get assessed values back in line with market prices because of former tax dist admins' failures. Other times it's just laziness. Best thing to do is hire an appraiser to do a market value appraisal on your home. You can go to the contest hearing and an scream/cry/beg all you want and they won't bat an eye. But if you walk in with a shiny new appraisal, they tend to listen.

Also, there may be agents, lawyers, or former tax district employees in your area specializing in contesting tax assessments. Might pay to do some self-educating in that respect as part of your contingency plans.

Brad

[Kingcreek]

We’re there a lot of property transfers in the area that established new inflated base values?
22% is crazy.

[Fly320s]

We’re there a lot of property transfers in the area that established new inflated base values?
22% is crazy.

I don't think so.  There have been plenty of houses sold, but I don't think the prices jumped that much.

[K Frame]

Here in Virginia they reassess every year, so we're largely immune from huge jumps like that.

Few years ago there was a story about a guy whose property tax bill went up over 300%. He had a small 50s ranch, while all around him the ranches had been torn down and replaced with those god awful McMansions, which drove his property value through the roof, not so much for the building, but for the land.

Can't remember how it turned out, but I think he got a revaluation done and got at least some of that knocked off.

[Hawkmoon]

Typically, you contest an appraisal by hiring an appraiser and comparing his result against their result. If your appraiser's result is significantly less than theirs, hire a second appraiser and get a third opinion. If both of your appraisals are significantly less than the town's, then you have a valid basis to demand that your appraisal be reduced.