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El Dorado County Property Taxes

Property tax appeal tips & deadlines

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I wanted to give you some tips and important dates for appealing your property taxes if you are considering doing that in a county surrounding Sacramento.

  1. Value Date for 2011:  Your property tax assessment for 2011 should be based on January 1, 2011.
  2. The Assessor’s Word:  Check to see what the Assessor says your property is worth for 2011. It only makes sense to dispute your property taxes if there is a savings to be had (see links below). Every $10,000 of over-assessment equals about $125 out of your pocket.
  3. Deadlines:  Know the deadlines for your local county. In most counties surrounding Sacramento you can appeal your property taxes between July 2 to November 30, but Placer County has a deadline at September 15, 2011.
  4. Costs:  Many counties have a cost to file a formal appeal anywhere from $30-45, while some counties are still free. We often hear how there is no fee to contest property taxes, but that’s just not the case in many counties.
  5. The Right Application:  Make sure you fill out the “Application for Changed Assessment” form. The Assessor has a “Prop 8 Decline in Value Form” you can try first for free, but this form is NOT an appeal. If you do not file the proper form before the appeals deadline, you have not officially appealed your property taxes (and you cannot fill out the form after November 30). I speak with many home owners every year who failed to file the right form.
  6. Support Your Value:  Provide support for your opinion of value. Don’t lowball the Assessor or simply throw out a preferrable number for your property taxes. Show evidence for what your property was worth on January 1 of the given year. Do not use current comps, but rather sales from January 1 to March 31 if possible. If you need help doing this, please contact me since I run a property tax appeal company and I can give solid support for your property’s value at a very reasonable cost (usually around $100). I find most cases do not warrant a full appraisal, but rather a mini-report.

Check your assessed value for 2011 by clicking on the following links. You may need to enter your APN (assessor parcel number), and you should be able to quickly retrieve that on the Assessor’s website. If not, call me and I’ll get it for you.

I hope this was helpful to begin to lay a general framework for important property tax details. If you have any questions about the tax appeal process or would like my tax appeal company to look up your property for free, please click here.

If you have any questions, or real estate appraisal or property tax appeal needs in the Greater Sacramento Region, contact Lundquist Appraisal by phone 916-595-3735, email, Facebook or subscribe to posts by email.

Two reasons to be careful of those “lower your property taxes” mailers

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Have you received one of those mailers from a company promising to reduce your property taxes? I’m not saying at all there is some sort of ethical problem with these companies, but home owners in the Sacramento Region would be very wise to not hire companies like this to dispute their property taxes in the early part of the year. I made a brief video PSA to explain why (or watch HERE).

 

I know a video like this sounds really self-serving at face value, but it’s not, and here is my logic why. In the first quarter of the year when these mailers typically get sent out, the Assessor’s Office has not yet published their yearly assessed values. In my mind, why pay someone to reduce your property taxes before you know if the Assessor is going to automatically reduce them? The Assessor is supposed to adjust assessed values up or down depending on what the real estate market has done in the previous year. Secondly, the formal time period to disupte taxes in most counties surrounding Sacramento is July through November (or September for Placer County) – not the first quarter of the year.

What do you think?

If you have any questions about the tax appeal process or you’d like to sign up on my property tax email list to let you know about important tax appeal dates and deadlines for the Greater Sacramento Region, comment below, send me an email, fill out this form on my tax appeal website, or call 916.595.3735.

Get a Text Message Reminder About Property Taxes

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www.SacramentoTaxAppeals.com has a helpful free service for home owners in the Greater Sacramento Region. You can sign up to receive text message reminders for important property tax dates and deadlines. This free service will remind you when new assessments become available, the first day you can appeal property taxes, and the last day you can contest your assessed value.  

The short video below shows you how to sign up for free. It’s so easy!!! We’ll only text you a few reminders. We will not call you. And we will never share your phone number with anyone.

This service is available to anybody located in the continental United States who owns property in the Greater Sacramento Region, Central Valley & Bay Area. Standard text messaging rates may apply from your carrier. Sign up now for free at www.SacramentoTaxAppeals.com.