I got some great news recently for a client, so I wanted to share the bliss. This client hired me to help him get his property taxes in sync with the current market since his home in Carmichael was overassessed by over $200,000 (ouch). After I turned in my tax appeal report to the Assessment Appeals Board in Sacramento County, his assessed value was lowered by $222,574. This means he’ll be getting a $2,300+ refund check in the mail. Cha-ching.
There is so much confusion and dishonest information out there about the property tax appeals process. If you have any questions, you may want to read 5 Things to Know about 2013 Property Taxes (or watch the video below). Then be sure to look up your 2013 assessment on the Assessor’s website.
Question: What would you do with a $2,300 refund check? Comment below.
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I wanted to remind everyone that you have one more month to appeal your 2012 property taxes in Sacramento County. The deadline to dispute your assessed value is November 30, 2012. This deadline is for typical “decline in value” situations where the market has decreased in value, but the assessed value is out of sync with reality. Keep in mind the assessed value is supposed to be based on January 1, 2012 – NOT today. If you have questions about how the process works, you can 
When is the first date to appeal property taxes in Sacramento County?
Every $10,000 of assessed value equals about $100-125 out of your wallet. If you are overassessed by $50,000, for example, then that’s $500-625 of overpayment for the year. This might sound outrageous, but you’d be surprised how common it is for property owners to be overassessed. Over the past several years I’ve found most clients have been scheduled to overpay anywhere from $400-$1,000. The largest reduction a client received was over $10,000 for the year.
finding many of the 2011 appeals I did for home owners in the Fall of 2011 have already been resolved or are in process right now (there are some I’m still waiting on of course). 
Situation #1: This happened to a client last week. The withdrawal form offered $250,000, but the value I came up with was $230,000 (this was a very solid value too). I called up the appraiser and had a discussion about the market. I got the sense that he was not going to budge, so I asked him to meet me in the middle at $240,000. He agreed. While $230,000 would have been ideal, the extra $10,000 in property taxes is only worth about $125, so my client chose to rejoice that his taxes were lowered from $280,000, and simply accept the $240,000. Had we gone through the appeals hearing, I’m confident that $230,000 would have prevailed, but sometimes it’s just not worth the effort in light of minimal savings to be had. The property owner makes this decision though and I’ll move forward with either direction.
3. When will you get your tax refund? After you withdraw your application and agree to a new value, your refund should come within 95 business days. Please note BUSINESS DAYS. Don’t expect to be the exception either. You’ll get between $100-125 back for every $10,000 in property reduction. If you were overassessed by $50,000, for example, you would get $500-625 back in your pockets. Most clients get back anywhere from several hundred dollars to sometimes $2,000. I had one client that was owed over $10,000 back.