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Sacramento County Property Taxes

Should you fill out the Prop 8 “Decline in Value” form or Application for Changed Assessment?

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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.

Crunching property tax stats for 9 Sacramentans

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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.

Should you sign a “tax withdrawal” when appealing your property taxes?

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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.

Two reasons to be careful of those “lower your property taxes” mailers

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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.

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