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Sacramento County Assessor

Will your property taxes increase when you get an appraisal?

March 27, 2013 By Ryan Lundquist Leave a Comment

Sometimes property owners ask me during an appraisal inspection if their property taxes are going to go up because of the appraisal. That’s a great question. I’m going to give Kevin Nunn, a local mortgage professional, first stab at the answer, and then I’ll pitch in a few thoughts.

A Mortgage Professional’s Answer by Kevin Nunn:

Kevin NunnThis question comes up on occasion. The simple answer is “No”. The taxes are based on the County Assessor’s value, and an appraised value is determined by a professional appraiser. The County never sees your appraisal, and they do not consider it in any way when determining the assessed value of a property. Sometimes though, an appraisal is being performed for a reason that will also trigger an increase in the County Tax Assessment. For example; if a property is being appraised for a construction loan that will be used to build a second story. The County will reassess for the added value of the increased square footage. Even in this case though, it is the building permits that trigger the reassessment, not the appraisal. The County would have reassessed even if the owner paid cash for the improvements and no appraisal was performed.

Image-purchased-by-Sacramento-Appraisal-Blog-and-used-with-permission-Image-credit-www.123rf.comphoto_10939567_businessman-taking-a-hit-by-the-taxe-s-hand.htmlluislouro-250-pix1No Sharing: Just so you know, there is not any county database where the appraiser sends an appraisal report when your house is being appraised. The appraisal report should not be delivered to anyone by the appraiser other than the lender during a loan appraisal or the private client during a private appraisal. Unless the county is somehow an intended user of the appraisal report, they’ll never see a copy (they won’t be an intended user unless they’re involved in the transaction somehow).

What does trigger a property tax reassessment?

  1. New Construction: First, a  reassessment is triggered during new construction, which is “any improvement to real property, such as adding a room, pool or garage” according to the Assessor. This is what Kevin was talking about with the example of adding a second story. In this case the addition though would receive a supplemental assessment so that the value of the addition is added to the existing property tax bill (as opposed to the entire property being reappraised). For example, if a house is torn down and is built brand new, the whole house will be reappraised, but otherwise only the new portion (2nd story addition) is taken into consideration for new taxation. Read more here.
  2. Change of Ownership: The second issue to consider that can trigger an increase in property taxes is when there is a change of ownership from one party to another. This means in most cases when a property sells or changes ownership, there will be a new assessed value based on the date of the sale or transfer. Of course not all transfers will initiate a new assessed value, such as common exemptions like an Interspousal Transfer, Registered Domestic Partners Transfer or Intrafamily Transfer (talk to an attorney or title company about your specific situation to ensure whether you are exempt or not). You can read more about exemptions from change of ownership on the Assessor’s website. For reference, the Sacramento County Assessor does state that refinancing is NOT considered a change of ownership.

I hope this was helpful for you. Let me know if you have any questions or property tax dispute situations in need of valuation insight.

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Filed Under: Property Taxes, Resources Tagged With: appraisal and property taxes, county database, Kevin Nunn mortgage, Property taxes go up because of appraisal, sacramento county appeal property taxes, Sacramento County Assessor, what triggers a reappraisal, what triggers new assessed value, when do property taxes increase

No break in property taxes for the Maloofs this year

July 9, 2012 By Ryan Lundquist 2 Comments

The Maloofs saved quite a bit in property taxes a year ago, but 2012 won’t bring the same fortune. Well, if your property taxes don’t go up, that’s still somewhat of a win, right? As you can see in the graph below, Power Balance Pavillion was assessed near $60 million from 2008-2010, but had a dramatic decrease in assessed value in 2011, which has resulted in an assessment for 2011-2012 at $29,129,000.

Property Taxes for Power Balance Pavillion 1 Sports Parkway Sacramento

There are technically five separate parcels for the arena in Natomas, but the above graph only considers 1 Sports Pkwy since it is the largest and most heavily taxed parcel (it’s the parcel that includes the arena). The other four parcels really only comprise a minimal addition to the overall tax picture.

Breakdown of assessed value for 1 Sports Parkway
2012 assessed value: $29,129,000
2011 assessed value: $29,129,000
2010 assessed value: $56,534,445
2009 assessed value: $58,844,792
2008 assessed value: $59,595,796

Cost of an Arena: $29 million might seem like a low value for an entire arena, but keep in mind the original stadium was constructed for about $40 million in 1987 (Wikipedia states today’s costs would be $78.6 million in 2012 dollars). For further reference, there was talk in recent months of building a new arena to replace the current one, and the projected cost was closer to $400 million.

What stands out to you about the figures above? What do you think it would’ve been like to have a new arena (the plan failed for anyone that didn’t know)?

FYI: Property taxes for 2012 were posted days ago by the Sacramento County Assessor. I recommend all property owners to look over their assessed value closely (click this link) to make sure you are paying your fair share of taxes – and no more. The value should be based on January 1, 2012 (NOT today). If you have any questions about the property 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 Sacramento area real estate appraisal or property tax appeal needs, contact me by phone 916-595-3735, email, Twitter, subscribe to posts by email or “like” my page on Facebook

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Filed Under: Property Taxes, Random Stuff Tagged With: Arco Arena, decline in property taxes, how to appeal property taxes, Maloof Sports and Entertainment, Natomas property value, property tax consultant, Property taxes for Power Balance Pavillion, real estate market in Natomas, Sacramento County Assessor, Sacramento real estate market trends, Sports Parkway, The Maloofs

Client’s property assessment lowered by $190,000

March 8, 2012 By Ryan Lundquist 6 Comments

It’s always nice to get good news for clients. Recently I got wind that the Assessor’s Office in Sacramento County ended up agreeing with my opinion of value for a client, so the client will now have their property taxes reduced by $190,000. That’s a saving of about $2,400, so my client should get a fat refund check in the mail soon. That should help with rising gas prices, huh?

tax appeal reduced

NOTE: The image above is a snippet of the “Tax Change Withdrawal” form in Sacramento County. These forms sometimes leave home owners confused because property owners are fearful of what the form really means. After all, nobody wants to sign the wrong form and accidentally stop an appeal. But in this case the withdrawal at hand is something good because the purpose of signing the withdrawal form is to formally accept the revised value and thereby pull out from the appeals process. Read more here if you are wondering about signing the Tax Withdrawal form.

If you have any questions or Sacramento area real estate appraisal or property tax appeal needs, contact me by phone 916-595-3735, email, Facebook, Twitter or subscribe to posts by email.

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Filed Under: Property Taxes Tagged With: Lower Property Taxes, property tax consultant, Reduce Property Taxes, Sacramento County Appraiser, Sacramento County Assessor, Success Story, Tax Change Withdrawl of Application for Changed Assessment

What is an “escape assessment”?

January 31, 2012 By Ryan Lundquist 41 Comments

Sacramento County Assessment Appeals Board at 700 H StreetThere is no escaping property taxes, right?

According to the Sacramento County Assessor, “An “escape assessment” is a correction to a property’s assessed value on the local property tax roll. The correction is made because the Assessor’s Office discovered a property or a taxable event that should have been assessed but was not. Current and/or prior year tax rolls may be affected. The most common reasons for an escape assessment are overlooked or unreported new construction, a missed change of ownership… or the removal of an exemption.”

Why am I talking about escape assessments? I just finished up some property tax consulting work for an East Sacramento home owner who needed research for his property’s value over the past four years. I love this type of work because it’s exciting to analyze the market for a number of years to establish a value over time. In this situation the owner inherited the property in 2008 from a friend, but the Assessor’s Office was not informed at the time of the death of the original owner, which should have triggered a reassessment. When the Assessor discovered the death and change of ownership, they sent the new owner a “Notice of Proposed Escape Assessment”, which basically means the Assessor’s Office enrolled new assessments for the property for the past four years. The home owner can appeal the values within 60 days of the issuance of the notice. Since the owner disagreed with the value put on the tax roll by the Assessor for 2008-2011, he hired me to show what market value was during each of these respective years.

NOTE: In situations like this the owner can appeal property taxes for multiple years in the past, but that’s not the case in typical “decline in value” situations. If you have been overtaxed for the past several years, for example, but you did not formally dispute your property taxes at the time, then there is nothing you can do once the appeals deadline passes on November 30 of the given year. All you can do is wait until the next year to appeal your property taxes.

Does that make sense? Let me know if you have any questions.

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Filed Under: Appraisal Stuff, Property Taxes Tagged With: advice for appealing taxes, dispute property taxes in Sacramento County, East Sacramento, escape assessment, Home Appraiser, Notice of Proposed Escape Assessment, property tax consultant, Sacramento County Assessor

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First off, thank you for being here. Now let's get into the fine print. The material and information contained on this website is the copyrighted property of Ryan Lundquist and Lundquist Appraisal Company. Content on this website may not be reproduced or republished without prior written permission from Ryan Lundquist.

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