Anyone with experience fighting real estate assessment hikes?

So, I just got my assessment from Eagle Co. Get this...

The average hike for Eagle Co. was 13%. My properties were hiked 76% and, hold on to your hats, 107%! Needless to say, I'm going to challenge. Years ago, I hired an experienced attorney to do it for me along with a few other owners. The attorney received something like 40% of the reduction in the assessed tax value. I'm possibly interested in doing it myself this time. Anyone have any input?

Thanks,

CW

 

CW,

I have "fought" these attempts to assign left field values to my real estate. I went through the proper channels at city hall (like a good tax payer) and was shuffled from office to office. They made it my responsibility to explain and prove why my property was NOT worth the new assigned value (slick eh?) I did this w/o the help of an attorney, maybe some legal counsel would prove beneficial in this case. I gave up......

Good Luck

 

I can understand your frustration. I've had to deal with these things more than I care to, and fighting bureaucracy is never pretty, easy or quick. Eagle Co. has, however, stirred up a hornet's nest. The Assessor's office phone is ringing off the hook, and they've hired additional personnel to deal with this. That's how absurd their assessments are. While I may go the professional route, I'd love to learn the process so that I can do it myself in the future and save myself even more gas money!

CW

 

I got the same thing and just about jumped out of my chair. Of course a week before, I got a snail mail from a company called eaglecountytaxappeal.com. ?Anyone have any experience with them? I'm tempted to use them as I can't see fighting this battle alone.

 

Ours went up (Chaffee county) about 10% which is still BS. Bear in mind that the assessments represent the period 1/1/07 to 6/30/08. My wife is a retired attorney and we had some success fighting in Douglas county. She plans to fight this and with too much time on her hands, I almost feel sorry for the county assessor. Send me a PM and I'll have her go over the procedure.

Dave

 

I'm dealing with same thing. I consulted my attorney, and my fathers as well. They all told me I'd be better off trying to knock down a brick wall with a feather

If some one else fights and succeeds I'll follow his/her steps, but I'll not bother until then.

I just got to remind myself that you've got to pay to play, nothing in life is free.

 

I have not done this in the past but getting ready to fight mine. My value went up over 22%! A good friend is who is realtor has pulled comp sales etc. of home sold in the evaluation time period (similar finish/similar property size etc). The data shows the new evaluation does not make any logical sense.

Any guidance from someone who has done this before would be awesome.

Thanks
Mark

 

Prison rape is not free. Or is it?

You guys are getting bent over. Paying taxes to take care of the community is "Paying to Play". Getting taxed at usury rates is not something you should put up with. Where does it end?

 

I live in Douglas County and mine went up 20%. I haven't decided what to do yet.

 

Update...

Vail's Mayor, Dick Cleveland, is fighting HIS assessed value! Article is in today's Vail Mountaineer. LoL!

CW

 

Well, I fight these all the time this time of year. I own a appraisal company and real estate company in Denver. Some places its not worth your time to attempt anything (Greenwood Village is a good example). GV is one of the worst with homes being valued at 10% more than what they paid for them the next year!

Jeffco can also be a pain in the a** to deal with but about half the time I get the value lowered. Having an appraiser look into the data is key since they know how to look into the sales much more in detail than most realtors (nothing against them since I am one also!)

The main problem right now is most places are using sales from 2006-2008 so most of the sales are still at the peak. Denver has dropped about 14% (per case shiller) from Aug 2006 until now. Most of us wont have much to fight since they can use DATED sales not current sales showing curent market values. The mountain areas have dropped off a cliff but that all started about 6 months ago.

Feel free to shoot me an email if you are in the Denver metro area and see if there is something to help you out with.

Brent Henry, SRA
Chief Appraiser/Managing Broker
[email protected]

 

My assessment went down 25% - go figure. Unincorporated Jefferson County up near conifer.

 

Many thanks. I might do that. I've contacted the county to get the comps they've used in valuing the properties. Once I get them, I'll begin my search for comps that support a lower valuation. I've been in touch with Pack Appraisals (www.packappraisals.com and www.eaglecountytaxappeal.com), but the girl I spoke with on the phone sounded disinterested and uninformed.

CW

 

If the county won't budge, you can go to state board of assessments. Just filing for it will (at least in our experience) get you a call from the county attorney looking for a compromise. In our case, we know our home was NEVER worth as much as it is now assessed.

Dave

 

Another appraiser sent this over to me a few days ago which you all should consider.

FYI:

Just a quick note to my fellow appraisers. Your clients should be aware that 2009 is a revaluation year for assessments in Colorado. Appeals should be filed by June 1, however, if that is not done, the law allows a taxpayer to have an additional 30 months to file appeals. That means that one can go back to 2007 and 2008 for appeals that were not filed in either of those years.

Brent Henry, SRA

 

Ours went up 49.8%...problem is that when you have a condo and there are sales of similar units that have never sold that high, I would think it wouldn't be too hard to show that the values were way under their assessment. Their numbers are at least 15% too high.

Maybe they are looking at home prices which have gone up more, but condo prices have not.

There is a firm advertising that they will help you fight your increase. I will call them and see what they charge.

Of course, if they are charging a % of what they "save" you...that could be a nice racket where the gov't overappraises and then gets a kickback from the people who get paid for "reducing" your valuation. Of course they haven't really "saved" you anything except a potential tax increase. sounds like it's time for more tea parties.

 

Yep, I fought Eagle County on behalf of a client a couple years ago and got them to knock a large chunk off the assessed value.

I've had good results and would be happy to tell you how to do it. Save your money and do it yourself.

Shoot me a PM if anyone is interested.

 

Here's a link for those in the Denver area.

http://www.denvergov.org/Assessor/ResidentialPropertyValueTrendsByNeighborhood/tabid/378151/Default.aspx


I also have it in a fancy PDF.

 

PM sent. THANKS.

CW

 

FYI, for follow up...

Thanks to everyone who commented. The input did help. The results were certainly good, though, mixed.

The arbitrator accepted my argument on the condo 100%. As this is the bulk of the value, I am very pleased.

As it pertained to the parking spot(s), though, I was unsuccessful. Not a big surprise to me, and given the data, I'm ok with it.

However, it's good to know that perseverance paid off and that someone was listening in Eagle!

CW