Have you ever overpaid for something? None of us like to admit when we spend too much money on something, but occasionally it happens – whether it’s a hyped-up gadget, hot toy during Christmas or even a piece of real estate.

Overpayment Conversations: I get phone calls periodically from property owners who think they overpaid for a house or parcel. After all, purchasing real estate often involves a combination of logic and emotion, and it’s usually the emotion part that drives us to pay too much.

Scenario 1: Most home owners I speak with about overpayment tend to say they overpaid by $5,000 or so to get the deal done. Honestly, even if there was an overpayment of $5,000, that’s an extremely minimal tax savings (about $50) that probably isn’t worth the time to pursue. In truth, don’t waste your time. Moreover, when a sale was on MLS and exposed on the open market for a reasonable time period, and there were other sales at a very similar level, the overpayment argument doesn’t have much support.

Scenario 2: However, there are cases where owners really do overpay by quite a bit. This tends to happen more frequently with unique properties, parcels, custom homes and all cash private sales off MLS that are not subject to an appraisal or strict lending guidelines to evaluate risk. Sometimes buyers and investors will overpay by tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. It happens and there are huge tax consequences too (overpayment).

How long can you appeal your “base year” value? In the case of legitimate overpayment, there can be tax relief for the property owner, but the owner can only appeal the “base year” value within four years of the date of purchase. After four years, there is nothing the owner can do to correct the base year value. In California the “base-year” or “Proposition 13″ value is the assessment level the Assessor assigns to a property when it is first purchased. All other years of taxation are “based” on this original assessment, so it’s definitely an important number. For example, if you bought a property for $500,000, and the Assessor determined market value was indeed $500,000 at the time, then your property taxes should not exceed that level in the future beyond an allowable 2% increase for inflation each year. Of course if property values decline, then your property should receive a temporary “Prop 8″ assessed value where your assessment is temporarily lowered each year to reflect the current market instead of the $500,000 market in the past when you purchased.

Money leaving your wallet: All things considered, if a property owner overpaid by $100,000 and the Assessor did not catch the overpayment, the property owner would basically be overpaying by $1,000 each year. Imagine doing that for 25 years in a row (that would equal 25-30K in overpayment). That’s why it’s important to act within four years in case there was a significant overpayment. All you would need to do is fill out the proper appeal form and supply support for a lower opinion of value for the base year between July 2 to November 30 of the calendar year (if relevant, this is what I can help you with).

I hope this was helpful. Please let me know if you have any questions, stories or scenarios to share with me (in comments below or feel free to call or email me).

When have you seen people overpay in real estate or retail? Are there are specific retail examples you can think of?

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

There is so much confusion about which form to fill out when appealing your property taxes in Sacramento County. In the video I explain the difference between the Proposition 8 “Decline in Value” form and the Application for Changed Assessment. I give advice on which form to fill out and hopefully give a clear explanation of which one of these forms is actually an appeal (only one of them). Every year I see property owners lose money because they filled out the wrong form or frankly knew too little about the appeals process, so I hope this is helpful. Watch the video below (or here).

What do you think? Any questions?

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, Twitteror subscribe to posts by email.

I have nine more tax appeals sitting finished on my desk right now. It’s just past midnight and I’m so glad to be wrapping up for the day. But before I call it quits I wanted to take a minute to share some stats with you from these appeals.

• Assessed value of 9 appeals: $2,855,247
• Market value of 9 appeals: $2,197,000 (23% lower overall)
• Largest overassessment percentage: 49% (a condo)
• Largest overassessment amount: $161,288
• Total potential savings for home owners this year: $8,228

This last bundle of appeals will be turned in today since November 30 is the deadline for disputing 2011 property taxes in many counties surrounding Sacramento (only for “decline in value” situations though – not all tax scenarios such as calamity reassessment). As the authorized agent for each home owner, I’ll be handling discussion with the Assessment Appeals Board in coming months and then the appeals hearing too if necessary. All things considered, the home owners are very happy and I even received some really encouraging feedback today that I wanted to share with everyone (the owner said it was okay to post). This made my day. Pretty cool, huh?

“Your report goes far beyond anything I could have imagined. As a former VP of Real Estate at a major East Coast bank, I’m very impressed. Add-in your quick turn-around time and initial e-mail response and I couldn’t be more pleased. Thank-you so much.”

What do you think about the stats?

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.

When appealing your property taxes and you get a form that looks something like the one below, should you sign it? Let me walk you through the decision process.

First off, the official form to fill out to contest your property taxes is called the “Application for Changed Assessment” (not the “Decline in Value” Prop 8 form). This application must be completed by November 30 in many counties surrounding Sacramento (or September 15 in Placer County). After you fill this out, the appeals board will eventually do one of three things: 1) Agree with your opinion of value and ask you to therefore withdraw your appeal; 2) Ask you to agree with a new value they pick and therefore withdraw your appeal; or 3) Set up an appeals hearing to discuss your situation further.

If the Assessor does #1 or #2 above, you’ll get a form that looks something like this.

Should you sign this form? Here is what I tell my clients as well as home owners who contact me. If the Assessor’s new value is pretty close to your listed value (or mine if we worked together), then it probably makes good sense to sign this form. Some home owners get scared of signing something like this, but all you are doing is saying you agree with the Assessor’s new value offer and you will no longer pursue an appeal. For example, the Assessor said the property above was worth $211,758, but after my appeal they offered a new value at $150,000. By signing the document, the new assessed value became $150,000.

Accept or Fight? Keep in mind that every $10,000 in assessed value equals about $125, so if the offered value is fairly close to yours, then it probably isn’t worth the time and energy to contest it any further. Just accept the value and move on. However, if the value is off by multiple tens of thousands or a couple hundred thousand dollars still, then it may be worth staying in the fight by going through with the appeals hearing. Just make sure you have a convincing case. If I did your appeal, I can give you advice about this when the time comes (or if you hired me to represent you at the hearing anyway, don’t even worry about this because I have it under control). Even if you didn’t hire me, give me a call and I’ll help where I can.

Do you have any questions? I hope this was helpful.

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.

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.

Property owners ask me this question every year….. often after the deadline has already passed. The last date to dispute your property taxes in Sacramento County and in many surrounding counties is November 30, 2010. This deadline is for a typical “decline in value” reassessment. See the video below or share with friends.

If you have any questions or a need to convince the Assessor’s Office of the true value of your home, contact my property tax appeal company at 916.595.3735 or see www.SacramentoTaxAppeals.com.

How would you like to pay taxes on twice the value of your property? I just finished a property tax appeal today for a Sacramento condominium owner. This condo was assessed at $166,000 by the Sacramento County Assessor’s Office, but the actual value was $84,500. Have a look below by comparing the blue dot ($166,000) with the rest of the black dots, which represent all sales in the neighborhood. Isn’t that wild? This condominium was assessed nearly two times actual market value, which amounts to about $1,000 too much in property taxes for the home owner to pay. 

Condominium values have been hit hard in the past several years as the real estate bubble in Sacramento burst. Why? In addition to property values decreasing for condos just as value has declined for other types of property, crammed condo living and HOA fees have seemed less appealing for buyers who can now more readily afford a backyard of their own.

If you have any questions about property tax appeals, or would like to have my property tax consulting company look up your property for free, call 916.595.3735 or see www.SacramentoTaxAppeals.com.

What do you think of the property tax scenario above?

While delivering a property tax appeal to the Sacramento County Appeals Board today, I took out my Flip camera to say a few words. It’s very important for locals to understand that November 30, 2010 is the deadline to dispute property taxes in Sacramento County (and many surrounding counties). Enjoy a short video.

FYI: The deadlne of November 30, 2010 is for typical “decline in value” reassessments. There are other types of appeals that do not have this deadline. 

Let me know if you have any questions. Call me at 916.595.3735, catch me on Facebook or visit my property tax appeal website.

When should a home owner formally appeal his/her property taxes? How do you know if you should dispute the Assessor’s value? The rule of thumb is really simple. If there is enough savings left for you after you have paid someone to help you appeal, then it’s absolutely worth it. If there really isn’t any potential for money to come back to your wallet, then don’t even bother.

Have a look at the video below (or HERE) and see how a home owner in Sacramento County paid me $89.00 to save $1,016. Not a bad deal, right?

I act as a “tax appeal consultant” instead of a real estate appraiser when I do tax appeal work. See www.SacramentoTaxAppraisals.com or call 916.595.3735 and I’ll check out your property for free to see if it looks like there is any potential savings to be had. This offer is good for residential property owners in Sacramento, Placer, Yolo, El Dorado, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Solano & Merced Counties.

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.

Today I took the last batch of property tax appeals for the year to the Sacramento County Assessment Appeals Board at 700 H Street in Sacramento (as pictured below). Before I headed out of the office though I thought it would be interesting to calculate the difference between the Assessor’s property tax assessment and my calculation of fair market value. Guess what, when considering only these eight tax appeals, the Assessor’s Office had these properties valued higher by $2,860,000, which essentially means local property owners were scheduled to pay $30,000 more in property taxes than they should this year. Ouch.  

Today was the last day to appeal property taxes for 2009 in Sacramento County (and in most if not all counties in California). If you did not dispute your taxes this year, you will have the opportunity to do so next year. You can expect new assessments for 2010 to come out at some point between May to July 2010 depending on which county you are located in. The assessment appeals period will then go from July 2010 to either September 15, 2010 or November 30, 2010 (depending on which county you are located in). Remember, your property assessment for next year will be based on your property’s value on January 1, 2o10.

If you have any questions or a story to share, comment below.

www.SacramentoAppraisalBlog.com Assessor Value vs. Market Value: A Difference of 2.86 Million Dollars

Since we are taxed at a rate of up to 1.25% on the total assessed value of our properties, this basically means that for every $10,000 of assessed value you are paying roughly $100. Thus if you purchase a house for $300,000 and the value is $300,000, you will pay roughly $3,000 in property tax per year.

Imagine the following:

Assessed Value $25,000 too high = you overpay by $250 per year
Assessed Value $50,000 too high = you overpay by $500 per year 
Assessed Value $100,000 too high = you overpay by $1,000 per year
Assessed Value $150,000 too high = you overpay by $1,500 per year
Assessed Value $200,000 too high = you overpay by $2,000 per year

As I stated in a previous post, my primary residence is currently assesed $35,000 too high and so I am scheduled to pay an additional $350 per year beyond what I should rightfully pay the Assessor. That doesn’t sit well with me. But there are home owners facing much more drastic situations where if they appeal their property taxes, they have a potential to save as much as $500-$1,000+.

Many times local home owners opt out of doing anything to contest their property taxes because they just don’t know what to do. That’s where we come in. We are glad to walk Greater Sacramento home owners through the process of appealing property taxes. We can help you understand what you can do and also what we can do for you. Whether you live in one of the following counties or own property in Sacramento, Placer, Yolo, El Dorado, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Yuba, Sutter, Solano, or Merced County, give us a call today at 916-595-3735 or email us at LundquistCompany@gmail.com We invite you also to take a look at our property tax appeal website at www.SacramentoTaxAppeals.com