Do you look at your property tax bill and wonder why it keeps going up every year? Although a percentage of the increase is likely due to government imposed and voter approved “fees”, the largest increase is most likely due to an increase in your assessed value. This is especially true if you have owned your home less than 10 years! But what is assessed value, where does it come from, and is it accurate? Great questions, I’m glad you asked!
1st off, no, it is not accurate, nor is it intended to be. Here is why. Assessed value is the value your home is given by your county assessors office each year. The value can be developed by the assessor’s office by utilizing data from various sources, such as the price you paid for your home, adjusted for the average yearly market increase in your market area, improvements to your home or site derived from county building permits, and/or a “mass appraisal” of homes in your market by the assessor’s office staff appraiser. None of these include an actual inspection of your home nor do they currently have access to any appraisals completed on your home for any purpose. Therefore, it would be impossible for them to be precise in the development of your assessed value. This also why appraisers do not use assessed value as a data point when developing an appraisal (yet online valuation models rely on them, but that’s a different blog for a different day)
If you disagree with your property tax bill you can file an appeal with the assessor’s office and they will review your tax assessment, but they will not inspect your property, therefore a tax appeal is most successful when it includes a full appraisal by a licensed appraiser. We are an unbiased 3rd party with no interest in the outcome of your appeal, so the assessor trusts our opinion. Because we are unbiased, telling an appraiser what you need the property to appraise for should cause the appraiser to recuse themselves and refer you to a new appraiser. An appraiser’s job is to provide an opinion of value, not a high one, not a low one, just one that reflects what the market indicates your property is worth. There is however a way you can influence the appraiser’s opinion of value to be lower. Here’s how.
Complete the following steps before the appraiser arrives & it will affect the opinion of value of your home.
*Note* The above recommendations are both tongue in cheek and based on actual experiences I have appraising homes. Please do not do any of them. The cost to repair will outweigh any tax savings by tens of thousands of dollars.
Next week’s blog is “How to increase the value of your home by $5,000 with just a $10,000 investment!”
The point is if you need an appraisal for any purpose, tax, refi, estate, or divorce, improvements (or dis improvements) to your property aren’t necessary as they typically do not result in enough of a difference to warrant the cost of the improvements. Appraisers are also trained to “see” things that impact value, both positively and negatively, without you having to stage your home.
If you need a tax appraisal for appeal, or just valuation for an estate, don’t damage your home! Give us a call today @ (916) 303-0960 and get an unbiased opinion of value. A valuation you can rely on. Eagle Appraisal Services "We Value Your Home" Tm 5693 Sparas Street Loomis, Ca 95650 Cell (916)303-0960