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Sacramento County Assessor's Office

It’s now property tax appeal season in Sacramento

July 2, 2012 By Ryan Lundquist Leave a Comment

It’s now property tax appeal season, so I wanted to quickly answer some of the most common questions I’m asked by property owners. Skim below to get a sense of what to expect during the tax appeal process. I hope this is helpful.

When is the first date to appeal property taxes in Sacramento County?
July 2, 2012 is the first date to dispute your property taxes in Sacramento County for a “decline in value” situation. A “decline in value” is when the market has declined, but the Assessor has not kept up with current trends. In short, this means you’re paying too much in property taxes.

How much time do you have to dispute your property taxes?
You can dispute your property’s assessed value from July 2 to November 30, 2012 in Sacramento County for typical “decline in value” situations. Most counties surrounding Sacramento keep the same time-table, but keep in mind Placer County has a deadline of September 15. Remember that supplemental assessments and escape assessments are often date-restricted (60 days from the Assessor’s letter).

How much money can be saved?
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.

How do you know if you should appeal or not?
The first thing you should do is look up your assessed value on the Assessor’s website (Sacramento County). The assessed value is supposed to be based on January 1, 2012 (NOT today’s value). Does the value seem reasonable to you? My tax appeal company can look up your property for free too to see if there might be a savings for you. Click HERE to fill out a brief property profile.

Which application should you fill out? 
I strongly recommend filling out the “Application for Changed Assessment”. There are actually two forms available to property owners, so it can be a bit confusing at times. However, only one of the forms is an actual appeal. Watch the video below (or here) for clarification on the “Decline in Value” (Prop 8) form vs. the “Application for Changed Assessment.”

What do you to give the Appeals Board besides the application? 
It’s extremely important to support your value. This is really the meat of your appeal. Choosing a random value without support or lowballing your assessed value is not a good idea. You should support your opinion of value with comparable sales around the date of assessment (January 1, 2012) and any other market data to supplement the sales. If you can do that, great. If you need help doing that, I’m here for you. My appeals are very well-supported and include the best comparable sales, the least comparable sales (when applicable), multiple graphs of market trends, a description of the neighborhood market and a reconciliation of value to help explain why your property is worth what it is worth.

Do you need a full appraisal when disputing your property taxes?
No. Unless your property is custom or extremely different, I don’t recommend a full appraisal in most cases. I’ve developed a mini-product that is far more affordable, yet still gives a very detailed analysis of the market. This product has worked very well and is about 1/3 of the cost of a full appraisal.

What happens after you turn in your appeal?
The Sacramento County Assessment Appeals Board technically has up to two years to get back to property owners when they file a property tax appeal. I’ve personally not seen them take that long for my clients, though it is technically possible. I’ve been 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). Read more HERE.

This post could go on and on. If you have other questions, please see my property tax appeal website as well as my property tax appeal article library. I am glad to talk via email or the phone too to help explain the process. I’ll always be honest with you and explain all of your options. There are too many tax appeal companies that frankly rip people off by providing a low-quality product, and on top of that they take 40-50% of your refund if the appeal is successful. That’s not how I run things as I have a nominal flat fee and my reports are very solid.

Any questions or stories to share?

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Filed Under: Property Taxes, Resources Tagged With: deadline for taxes, Home Appraiser, House Appraiser, how to lower property taxes, how to reduce property taxes, Lower Property Taxes, overpaying in property taxes, property tax consultant, reduce property taxes in Sacramento County, Sacramento County Assessor's Office, saving money on property taxes, tax appeal company in Sacramento, taxes too high, timeline for property tax appeals

Should you fill out the Proposition 8 “Decline in Value” form?

October 16, 2011 By Ryan Lundquist Leave a Comment

It’s free to appeal your taxes, right? Well, not necessarily in Sacramento County and many other surrounding counties. Technically speaking, if you fill out the Proposition 8 Decline in Value form, it is a free process to ask the Assessor to reconsider your property value. You can drop off this form to the Assessor off Power Inn Road in Sacramento, but realize the Prop 8 form is NOT an appeal. In short, if you fill out this form only and the deadline to appeal (November 30) passes, then there is no recourse to dispute your property taxes for the year. The only way to formally appeal your property taxes is to fill out the “Application for Changed Assessment” and drop this form off to the Assessment Appeals Board in Downtown Sacramento.

My advice from experience? You can try to turn in the Decline in Value form to the Assessor, but if you have not heard back as of October or early November, proceed to file a formal appeal. In truth, I rarely recommend the Prop 8 form at any time because most people are busy or November 30 is approaching too quickly. However, since the Application for Changed Assessment will cost you $30, some owners prefer the Prop 8 route first. The Application for Changed Assessment used to be free, but two years ago a fee was instituted, which means appealing your property taxes in Sacramento is not really free of charge. Along with the application you MUST submit evidence for a lowered opinion of value for January 1, 2011. Be realistic and support your value conclusion. If you know what you are doing, great, but if you need help, contact my tax appeal company and we’ll take care of you for only $99.00 (fee goes up in November). Our valuation report consists of a description of your property, the best comps, the worst comps (if needed), graphs of all sales in the market, a graph of competitive sales and a description of the real estate market as it pertains to your property.

Know the Difference: Whatever you do, please know the difference between these two forms. Every year I talk with home owners who thought they appealed their property taxes, but they only filled out the Prop 8 form. Remember, once the Assessor looks at the Prop 8 form, they may or may not get back to you and they do not have to bring your case to an appeals hearing either. In contrast, the Application for Changed Assessment will ensure your right to hear back from the appeals board and to eventually take things to an appeals hearing if need be.

Does this make sense?

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, Twitter or subscribe to posts by email.

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Filed Under: Property Taxes, Resources Tagged With: appraisal service in Sacramento, appraisers in Sacramento, filling out the right applicationf or an appeal, Lundquist Appraisal Company, Prop 8 decline in value form, Proposition 8, Proposition 8 real estate, Real Estate Appraiser in Sacramento, Sacramento County Assessment Appeals Board, Sacramento County Assessor's Office, Sacramento Real Estate Appraiser, which application to fill out in Sacramento

Taxes too high, graphs & saving $1,750 in Folsom

September 8, 2011 By Ryan Lundquist Leave a Comment

Don’t just tell me, show me. In all my tax appeals and appraisals, I like to visually display what is happening in the market. It helps get a point across and sometimes shows a certain trend too. In the case below, a home owner in the Hillcrest neighborhood in Folsom contacted me about disputing his property taxes. As you can see, the Sacramento County Assessor’s Office had his property assessed around $940,000. When looking at the graph though, does something seem suspect? Being that there were zero sales above $900,000 over the past 2+ years in the entire City of Folsom, there are some red flags. Granted, there could definitely be a reason why a property is valued as a “lone ranger” (especially in Hillcrest), but in this case after my valuation was complete, true value was $140,000 less than assessed value (that’s about $1,750 in property taxes).

What do you think of the graph? What trends have you seen in Folsom lately?

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, Twitter or subscribe to posts by email.

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Filed Under: Market Trends, Property Taxes Tagged With: Folsom Real Estate Market, graph of all sales in Folsom, Hillcrest neighborhood in Folsom, how to appeal property taxes in Folsom, how to dispute property taxes, Lundquist Appraisal Company, property taxes in Folsom, property value in Hillcrest neighborhood, Real Estate Appraiser in Folsom, Sacramento County Assessor's Office, Sacramento Real Estate Appraiser

How a home owner paid me $89.00 to save $1,016 on his property taxes in Sacramento County

September 27, 2010 By Ryan Lundquist 6 Comments

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.

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Filed Under: Property Taxes, Resources, Videos Tagged With: Assessor, Lower Property Taxes, Placer County, property tax consultant, Property Taxes, Reduce Property Taxes, Sacramento consultant, Sacramento County Assessor's Office, Sacramento County Property Taxes

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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.

Please see my Sharing Policy on the navigation bar if you are interested in sharing portions of any content on this blog.

The information on this website is meant entirely for educational purposes and is not intended in any way to support an opinion of value for your appraisal needs or any sort of value conclusion for a loan, litigation, tax appeal or any other potential real estate or non-real estate purpose. The material found on this website is meant for casual reading only and is not intended for use in a court of law or any other legal use. Ryan will not appear in court in any capacity based on any information posted here. For more detailed market analysis to be used for an appraisal report or any appraisal-related purpose or valuation consulting, please contact Ryan at 916-595-3735 for more information.

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