Every April, you should receive your annual property tax assessment in the mail. Here are some important things to know about these.
- This is not market value. It is supposed to be, but it’s not. Don’t get hung up if your assessment went down. That does not automatically mean that your property value went down. It should mean that your tax bill will go down, though, so glass half full!
- You have until the end of July to file a request to appeal, if you want to contest your assessment. Contact me if you want to discuss and want my opinion on if you should contest. On my rentals, I had one property’s assessed value go from $156,000 to $199,000 this year. Yikes! However, I just had the property appraised and know it’s worth than the assessed value , so I have no leg to stand on for an appeal!
- For every thousand dollars of property assessment, you are taxed between 1 and 2 cents. So even if your property is assessed $10,000 higher than you think it should be, you may end up spending a lot of time fighting over $100-$200. And if you have to get an appraisal to prove your point, that can cost you $400 or more.
- This is a good time to make sure the correct property tax exemptions are in place. Email me if you need help figuring that out!
I did appeal a property tax bill once and won, so it is difficult but, at times, worth it!