Real Estate Tax Attorney

A real estate tax attorney can help you get your real estate taxes lowered, if the value of your home or property has declined with the burst in the housing bubble.  You may be overpaying your property taxes, and a property tax attorney can ensure that you are paying the rate that is in line with the revised value of your home and/or property.

One of the unforeseen consequences of the recent run-up of real estate values was that it affected your real estate taxes. Typically, as real estate values increased, in many jurisdictions, so did the annual real estate tax bill. While it is nice to have one’s real estate value increase at 10% or more each year, the downside to that boon is a higher tax bill. While you had to sell (or refinance) your property to realize its increase in value, your increasing tax bill had to be paid in full each year. For those on a fixed income, that could prove to be a serious problem.

There may be hope, however. In most locations throughout the US, the City or County Property Appraiser or Tax Assessor looks at comparable sales of other houses in the neighborhood. Then, via protocols required by state law, uses those to assess all of the other houses in the neighborhood. Because this system may use the recent sales of just a few houses in a given neighborhood to set the assessment for dozens of other houses there, it is possible that your house may be just different enough not to “fit the pattern”. Therefore, it might be over-assessed.

To find out if your house is really over-assessed, you need an appraisal from an experienced, professional real estate appraiser (not a broker, whose opinion carries very little weight with assessors and County property appraisers). This will cost from $250 to $1,000 (or more) depending on your house. Tell the appraiser up-front why you are getting the appraisal so the appraiser makes that clear in the appraisal report.

That way, the appraiser will know which date to use as the effective date. Then, when you get the appraisal, compare the value in it with the assessed value of your house. If the appraisal is less, then contact the taxing/assessing authorities, send them a copy of the appraisal, and ask them to lower the assessment. If that does not work, there is an appeal process (which the appraiser can explain to you) that is less expensive than going to court. If that appeal process does not result in a lowered assessment, typically the only other step is to sue the County assessor and ask the Court to determine the property’s proper tax assessment. That requires an attorney (who is a lot more expensive than an appraiser!).

Author: Timothy Andersen

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Timothy_Andersen

Real Estate Taxes have become a huge challenge for many home owners.  With decreasing home values, job cuts, job lay offs and more, many home owners are strapped and some are even finding that their property taxes are going UP when common sense indicates that they should be going DOWN with the value of their home! 

This account is based off an example in Michigan, however, this may apply to you in any of the 50 United States.  Contact a real estate tax attorney if you have questions, are deliquent in paying your real estate taxes or have other real estate tax woes.   You can also contact your local assessor to find out more information and details on how your property taxes are calculated. 

Every home owner have already received their new tax assessment for 2009, by now. The tax is up and the house value is down with the real estate market. Why the property value is down is easy to understand under current circumstances, but why the property tax goes up is not so obvious.

The explanation provided for us in the state of Michigan (it should be similar for your state also) is:

In a booming or declining market, a property’ State Equalized Value will rise or fall with the market, while a property’ Taxable Value will remain at a steady, gradual increase. This is because the Taxable Value is not tied to the market, but rather to the lesser of five percent (voted capped value in Michigan) or Consumer Price Index - the annual national inflation rate from October to October.

The vocabulary and assessing terminology along with some tax knowledge is required to comprehend the above statement.

State Equalized Values (SEV) is equal to 50 percent of the market value of your property. When buying a property we ask the city assessor the current tax info on file to have this SEV number, the 50 percent of the market value. For example the SEV is $85,000, than the house values is a bit more than $170,000.

In 1994, Michigan voters approved a constitutional amendment known as Proposal A. Proposal A was designed to limit the increase in property taxes to either 5% or the annual change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), whichever is less, until ownership of the property is transferred.

When you buy a property, the purchase price, more exact half of it becomes the new State Equalized Values.

In Michigan the Taxable Value (TV) is he lower of SEV or Capped Value. The Capped Value number is calculated multiplying the previous years’ Taxable Value by the CPI.

Call the State /City Assessor’ Office in your area to learn more.

Author: Ernest Ionescu

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ernest_Ionescu