Property Tax Appeals: The Basics

There are a few different ways to prove to the appeal board that your home is over assessed.

1. Provide 4 or more comparable homes ("comps") that sold for an amount less than the assessed value of your home in the 3 years prior to the assessment date.
2. Provide between 6-10 comparable homes that did not sell and are assessed for less than your home is assessed.
3. Demonstrate that there are major construction defects in your home: leaking roof, cracked foundation, significant erosion).
4. Prove that there has been a data error that unfairly raised your assessed value (i.e., the region data could show 4 bedrooms for your home when there are only actually 3).

In almost every jurisdiction, the appeal board will rely most heavily on item number 1 from the list above: comparable homes ("comps"). However, finding the correct comps for an appeal is different than finding comps for an appraisal. Many of the comps you or your real estate agent might find in a typical multiple listing service ("MLS") report would not be allowed in an appeal hearing. Similarly, most real estate websites that offer an estimated valuation for your home will include comps that would be disqualified during an appeal hearing.

UNQUALIFIED COMPARABLES

For instance, these homes can't be used as comps in a property assessment appeal:

• Homes that sold as part of a foreclosure
• Homes that sold as part of a "short sale"
• Homes that sold as part of a divorce settlement
• Homes that sold as part of an inheritance
• Homes that were sold to a non-profit charity
• Homes that sold after the assessment date. Why?
• Homes that are disqualified for many other sneaky reasons the appeal board uses. The rules vary by jurisdiction, the list above is just a sample

How are you supposed to know whether the comps you want to use in your appeal would be disqualified in an appeal hearing? It's tough. The process is designed to put the homeowner at a disadvantage to discourage appeals.

HERE ARE YOUR OPTIONS

1. Leave a message for your local assessor and hope for a helpful government employee to call back with accurate information before the appeal deadline. Then create an attractive and compelling appeal report on your own to mail in to the appeal board.
2. Ask your real estate agent for free advice and hope they take the time to research the many rules of the appeal process before selecting comps for you. Selecting comps for appeals is not something most agents know anything about. Then create an attractive and compelling appeal report on your own to mail in to the appeal board.
3. Spend several hours researching your local appeal board's rules and fine print and then select comps from a free online real estate valuation service. Then create an attractive and compelling appeal report on your own to mail in to the appeal board.
4. Use the ValueAppeal service and be done in minutes! We automatically filter out comps that would most likely be disqualified by the appeal board, then we generate a compelling and attractive appeal report for you in minutes!

The appeal process has a lot of fine print that can be difficult to understand. Lucky for you, ValueAppeal streamlines the process to make it easy!

YOUR AREA

The property tax appeal process varies by jurisdiction. The rules in one region or city may not apply to another adjacent region. ValueAppeal has researched the policies and procedures for your jurisdiction to make sure you don't make any mistakes.