Property Taxes & Property Tax Reduction

"The avoidance of taxes is the only intellectual pursuit that carries any reward."- John Maynard Keynes, economist

So lets start by asking: "What is something worth?"

The way that's determined is to compare the item in question to something that recently was sold. Take a car for instance. If you want to buy a used car you'll go to the newspaper or online and compare what a certain make, year and modal is selling for. You may use the Kelly Blue Book where there is a suggested range for what a car is worth; there are high ball figures and a low one's as well as figures based on condition.

An assessment figure is an opinion of value.

Real estate is the same deal. You want to look over the sold data for homes that most compares to your home to get an idea what your home is worth.

But tax assessors do it somewhat different and, with the figure they come up with, they give you what they call an assessment.

Property tax assessments are just estimations that the either the local tax assessor or some hired service provides. When a service is hired it is called something like a "mass property tax valuation" or "blanket revaluation" for whatever particular area that it is being done for.

It is easy to get distorted figures resulting in homeowners of similar properties paying significantly different property taxes.

Mass appraisal processes aims to value a large range of properties. They obtain valuation quickly and usually inefficiently. While cost effective to the tax collection authority, it is not fair to a large portion of homeowners.

Often previous house tax assessment information is erroneous rolled over into the next year or they take the most expensive house in the area and adjust your property for those square-footage results. Lots of details and factors get left out in the process.

The National Taxpayers Union writes that as many as 60% of all homeowners are over-assessed and not in line with their home value. ("How To Fight Property Taxes" 2004 p.1

Consumer Reports has published that property tax records show an error rate of 40% exists in estimating property taxes. (Nov.1992 v57 nil p.723)

The National Taxpayers Union documents that as many as 60% of all properties in America are over assessed yet less than 1% appeal their taxes. The process to contest these contrived market values is relatively simple. With the guidebook and the provided forms, the odds are extremely favorable for you to win.

Are You Qualified To Prepare A Property Tax Appeal?

Who knows your house better than you? You know your property and your house - you live in it -- you're the expert! You know the flaws as well as the positive aspects.

Who knows your neighborhood better than you? You observe the neighborhood from every angle; after all, you drive through it every day. You see the houses that are bought and sold. You're aware of who is moving into the neighborhood and who is moving out.

Someone not familiar with the area and with your house would miss and misinterpret a lot of information. You really are the most qualified to assemble that information.

You will be shown how and what info to assemble in order to nail down the market value for yourself! Using this book as a guide and with your powers of observation, you can define the worth of your property with precision.