I just received my property tax bill and was surprised to see my Assessed Value increase by 34% instead of the 3%. We bought and moved into the house in April of 2006 and a county tax assessor stopped by in October of 2006. I wasn't home, so he never stepped foot inside my house.

Turns out he went into my backyard and peeked in the window and noticed what he deemed a "quality remodeled kitchen" which lead to the rise in the Assessed Value. The only problem is the kitchen was remodeled in the late 1990's and there have been 2 prior transactions on the house prior to when we bought it. An assessor was last in the house in 2004 and noted it to be of "average condition".

The assessor presumed the kitchen was recently remodeled and figured that had to be the reason the house sold for considerably more in 2006 than it did in 2003.

I am essentially being penalized for a kitchen remodel that was done at least 2 owners ago.

In order to have my case considered with the snoopy assessor I have to provide evidence the kitchen was remodeled long ago, rather than after 2004 as he suspects.

Guilty until proven innocent in the eyes of the county, I guess.

That's a tough one Bookem. Have you chosen to make a case? Having recently dealt with the city on a land use issue, it can be time consuming but in the end it maybe well worth it especially due to the rather large increase.

Our bill increased due to the school bonds we passed so I wasn't surprised and am happy to pay it, however in your case I think you have a justifiable cause.

Good luck.

Thanks, Chris.

I think I am going to file an appeal. But first I want to verify the kitchen remodel date and if it took place when I think it did (mid 90's), then pass that on to the assessor to see if he can revise my taxes without going through the appeal process.

I've wondered whether an assessor has the right to not only access my property while I'm not there, but to make a judgment based simply on peeking through a backdoor window.

Yes, they have the right to assess your property while you're not there, and in some cases, it's actually worse not to let him in.

I would file an appeal because a 34% increase in AV is pretty steep for a late 90's remodel (chances are, it's already somewhat out of date!)

And, this is also why the county likes you to get permits, as they don't really care about the integrity or safety issues, they like to keep track of what you're doing to improve your house so they can stick it to you.

Bookem-

I agree that the way the assessor determined your value was kind of shady to say the least. It's worth appealing and maybe in the long run it will help the county assessor find better ways to do that part of the job.

I once appealed by $20K deck replacement of a dangerous, falling apart deck that raised my assessment $50K, but the county only said NO, thanks for the extra money.

Bookem, they will likely tell you that they finally got around to inspecting your home. Let us know what happens.

I let an assessor into the last house I bought 10 years ago only to see my taxes jump to the one of the highest on the block. I was thinking I'd avoid that this time, but as it turns out this time, I probably should have let him go through the house as I could've told him then the remodel was done several years ago.

Next time, keep the blinds closed when you aren't home! Or mess up your kitchen when you think the assessor will come by. Maybe your taxes will go down instead!

Andrew

I just looked at my tax statement. My increase in assessed value is 3% from last year, but the increase in real market value as determined by the county was 12%, and the county esimate on that is a tad conservative. My assessed value is 56% of the county real market value. It looks like I got a nice low tax assessment locked in for now.

I'm curious, if your AV went up 34%, did your tax bill also go up 34%?

My tax bill went up almost 45%...an increase of almost $1500 from 2006.

My tax bill went up almost 45%...an increase of almost $1500 from 2006.

Hey, they gotta pay for that MAX line running down 205 somehow!

Wrong thread.

AV's with no improvements from the prior year can only increase by 3% per year up to the market value. So in some neighborhoods it will take more than 30 years for the AV to be equal to today's Market Value. This is the effect of Measure 47 & 50 and the reason so many mobile home parks have closed down.

Scrape off the mobile homes and land that was appraised at $2 Million prior to houses being built is now appraised at $6 Million, yet the AV on the land will still be $2 Million.

If this was California the Property Taxes would be 300% higher and it would stop the wanton destruction of Mobile Home Parks.

Mobile Home Parks cause tornados!