Alright, I have a new situation I would love some advice on, and this Board is always a great place to go for that.
So I bought a house from a family that had owned it for 20 years at the end of 2011 which the County appraised at the time of purchase for property tax purposes at $140K more than what I paid for it, a more than 20% hike! My special assessments were quite high as you can imagine as this was quite a jump from previous years property tax valuations. I filed a property tax assessment appeal as soon as possible which not surprisingly takes a year or so to play out. My appointment is coming up very soon.
I have paid all of the property taxes, so I am current on everything, but in talking to the Appraisers on the phone last month, they require prior to my appointment that I hand over the documents related to purchasing my house (all the escrow documents) as well as the appraisal at that time, and any appraisals since that time. I am not entirely comfortable about handing over all the escrow documentation to the County, but okay because - I have this feeling that they don't believe it was an arm's length transaction.
According to them they are surprised by what I paid and they just need to make sure there is not something untoward with the transaction so they want to review the sale documentation. Okay, so I get that...I guess. But what does a recent appraisal have to do with it? Most people who have had their property recently reappraised have encountered higher appraisal values than last year and certainly higher than 2011, so why would the County want that when supposedly, they can only use comparable sale activity on either side of my purchase date +/- a few months. Why would they want a recent appraisal, "if I have one." That sounds fishy to me.
If I were to provide them with one, it would be like those court cases when someone on the stand yells out something REALLY pertinent to the case, but the Judge tells the Jury to, "strike that." How can you STRIKE THAT!? It's IN - YOUR - HEAD now. So if the County reviews a recent appraisal that is higher than two years ago, how can anyone believe that would not play a part in determining a new assessment price that would be higher than it otherwise would have been had they not seen it.
I am not even sure if I am required by some law to provide them with one, assuming I have one. More oddly, I also JUST received Friday a notice from the County that due to, "certain information [that] has recently come to the attention of the Assessor Department...we are initiating a revision to the referenced assessment as follows:" followed by a $39,000 reduction of the land portion of the original assessment. This is all very odd.
So I bought a house from a family that had owned it for 20 years at the end of 2011 which the County appraised at the time of purchase for property tax purposes at $140K more than what I paid for it, a more than 20% hike! My special assessments were quite high as you can imagine as this was quite a jump from previous years property tax valuations. I filed a property tax assessment appeal as soon as possible which not surprisingly takes a year or so to play out. My appointment is coming up very soon.
I have paid all of the property taxes, so I am current on everything, but in talking to the Appraisers on the phone last month, they require prior to my appointment that I hand over the documents related to purchasing my house (all the escrow documents) as well as the appraisal at that time, and any appraisals since that time. I am not entirely comfortable about handing over all the escrow documentation to the County, but okay because - I have this feeling that they don't believe it was an arm's length transaction.
According to them they are surprised by what I paid and they just need to make sure there is not something untoward with the transaction so they want to review the sale documentation. Okay, so I get that...I guess. But what does a recent appraisal have to do with it? Most people who have had their property recently reappraised have encountered higher appraisal values than last year and certainly higher than 2011, so why would the County want that when supposedly, they can only use comparable sale activity on either side of my purchase date +/- a few months. Why would they want a recent appraisal, "if I have one." That sounds fishy to me.
If I were to provide them with one, it would be like those court cases when someone on the stand yells out something REALLY pertinent to the case, but the Judge tells the Jury to, "strike that." How can you STRIKE THAT!? It's IN - YOUR - HEAD now. So if the County reviews a recent appraisal that is higher than two years ago, how can anyone believe that would not play a part in determining a new assessment price that would be higher than it otherwise would have been had they not seen it.
I am not even sure if I am required by some law to provide them with one, assuming I have one. More oddly, I also JUST received Friday a notice from the County that due to, "certain information [that] has recently come to the attention of the Assessor Department...we are initiating a revision to the referenced assessment as follows:" followed by a $39,000 reduction of the land portion of the original assessment. This is all very odd.