I shared some good news a few weeks back that Sacramento County refunded me $398.96 after I appealed my 2008 property taxes. Well, yesterday another check arrived in the mail for $449.02 for my 2009 property taxes.  Here’s my story.

Taxes are a part of life and we should only pay our fair share – and no more!!! Please contact my tax appeal company so we can see if there is a potential savings for you. If there is, let’s move forward to help you reduce your property taxes (we have very reasonable fees). If not, then we’ll shoot straight with you to let you know if the Assessor has you valued correctly. Click HERE and we’ll look up your property for FREE.

So how should I spend the $847.98?

After returning from a camping trip to Shaver Lake this past weekend, I was very happy to find a property tax refund check had come in the mail from Sacramento County. Yes, I appealed my own property taxes in 2008 and they cut me a check to rightfully put money back in my pockets (I’ll get another check for 2009 too). If I had not disputed my property taxes, I would have never seen this refund.

What should I do with the money? Any ideas?

Brainstorming Ideas for how to spend the money:

1. Buy 228 cups of vanilla rooibos herbal tea.
2. Make a dent in the purchase of Sony Vegas Pro.
3. Flipcam.
4. Pick up two used kayaks on Craigslist.
5. Pay for the traffic violation that someone in my household recently earned.
6. Bills.
7. Buy a Micro Portable Loudspeaker Dock for iPod
8. Have glamour headshots taken to start a career as a super model.
9. Easily fund the next camping trip.

If you have any questions about how to reduce your property taxes, let me know. I run a property tax appeal website for the Greater Sacramento Region and I am glad to help you (if it makes good sense for you – if there is money to be saved).

I’m a fan of good news, so I wanted to share something with you. A property owner I helped last December just got word that the Sacramento County Assessor has agreed with my opinion of value for his property. They had previously assessed his Elk Grove home for 2009 property taxes at $945,000, but my company provided detailed support to show his assessed value should be at $750,000. The Assessor’s office agreed!!! This means the home owner will receive a refund check around $2,000 because he overpaid on property taxes in 2009.

This particular home owner contacted me literally a couple of days before the deadline to dispute property taxes last year. It’s a good thing he reached out too because otherwise that $2,000 refund check wouldn’t be showing up in the mail.

As a side note, when an appeal is filed and the Assessor ends up agreeing with the appeal, they’ll send you a “Tax Change Withdrawal of Application for Changed Assessment.” Basically this means they are asking you to formally agree to the new opinion of assessed value and simultaneously withdraw your appeal. Usually home owners I help have some questions during this phase because nobody wants to sign something that sounds so unfamiliar. But if the value looks good, you should sign off. There is no reason to keep the appeal in process or pursue an appeals hearing if the Assessor has already agreed to an accurate reduced value. 

I love stories like this and I’ve been hearing quite a few of them lately too. It never gets old to hear a home owner will get a refund check of $2,000. Keep me posted if it looks like you might need help or if you simply want me to check out if there is a potential savings for you. Call me at 916.595.3735 or see www.SacramentoTaxAppeals.com.

You probably didn’t wake up this morning wondering about fourplex sales in the city of Modesto. But if you did, you’re in luck. Even if you didn’t though, have a look at the trend graph below because it’s shocking to see the huge difference in property values from three years ago to now. What do you see? What stands out to you?

If you are a home owner or work in the real estate field, I’d be curious to hear your take not only on the data above, but on property assessments too. Unfortunately I’m finding it especially true that multi-unit 2-4 income-producing properties are often not assessed accurately (even worse than single family homes). Are you seeing a similar trend? Why do you think duplexes and fourplexes often seem to escape the realm of lowered values by the assessor?

If you are a property owner or investor and feel the Assessor has not kept in tune with the reality of the downward trend in property values, let’s talk. Call me at 916.595.3735 or see my property tax appeal website at www.SacramentoTaxAppeals.com.

Home owners and real estate agents ask me property tax questions all the time, so I figured it would be helpful to make a video to answer some of the most common questions. In the video below or HERE I walk you through the calendar year of events and deadlines surrounding reducing your property taxes so you can know what to expect throughout the year. 

Common Questions Covered in the Video: When is the best month to appeal property taxes in Sacramento or another local county? What date does the Assessor base my property value on? Why is it not a good idea to respond to the “reduce your taxes” mailers in February and March? When do new assessed values come out in Sacramento and surrounding counties like Placer? Why does the Assessor have a positive publicity campaign before releasing new assessed values? When is the deadline for disputing property taxes?

Please see www.SacramentoTaxAppeals.com for additional information and let me know if you have any questions. You can use the “Contact” page on the website to let us know about your property so we can do FREE research to determine if there is any potential savings for you on your property tax bill. You may also call 916-595-3735, or email info@SacramentoTaxAppeals.com. Thank you.

Do you have any questions about property tax appeals? In your experience, has your local Assessor valued your property correctly over the years?

As you may know, I run a property tax appeal website for property owners in the Greater Sacramento Region. I help home owners dispute their property taxes when it makes good economic sense for them to do so (only if there is a savings to be had). I mention this because I am very pleased to have learned last week that the Sacramento County Assessor reduced my own property taxes by $36,622 after viewing the evidence I presented for a lowered opinion of value. They agreed with my value and the tax refund will be roughly $350. 

This is not a huge sum of money. There are certainly clients that will save $10,000+ because of the work my company provides. Yet at the same time, every dollar counts and I’d much rather save $350 than relinquish my hard-earned greenbacks to the local Assessor.

The wild thing is that these were property taxes for 2008. I turned in the Application for Changed Assessment in November 2009 and the Assessor just got back to me about these taxes last week - sixteen months later.

If you think you are a good candidate for lowering your property taxes, then it’s important to take action before the deadline for appealing property taxes comes (that’s either September 15 or November 30 depending on which county you live in). Had I not actually formally disputed my own taxes in November 2009, I would have been out of luck, and the Assessor would not be cutting me a check. I don’t know about you, but I’m a big fan of getting checks in the mail.

I’m happy to answer any questions. Give me a call at 916-595-3735 or shoot me an email at ryan@SacramentoTaxAppeals.com.