I wanted to give you some tips and important dates for appealing your property taxes if you are considering doing that in a county surrounding Sacramento.
Value Date for 2011: Your property tax assessment for 2011 should be based on January 1, 2011.- The Assessor’s Word: Check to see what the Assessor says your property is worth for 2011. It only makes sense to dispute your property taxes if there is a savings to be had (see links below). Every $10,000 of over-assessment equals about $125 out of your pocket.
- Deadlines: Know the deadlines for your local county. In most counties surrounding Sacramento you can appeal your property taxes between July 2 to November 30, but Placer County has a deadline at September 15, 2011.
- Costs: Many counties have a cost to file a formal appeal anywhere from $30-45, while some counties are still free. We often hear how there is no fee to contest property taxes, but that’s just not the case in many counties.
- The Right Application: Make sure you fill out the “Application for Changed Assessment” form. The Assessor has a “Prop 8 Decline in Value Form” you can try first for free, but this form is NOT an appeal. If you do not file the proper form before the appeals deadline, you have not officially appealed your property taxes (and you cannot fill out the form after November 30). I speak with many home owners every year who failed to file the right form.
- Support Your Value: Provide support for your opinion of value. Don’t lowball the Assessor or simply throw out a preferrable number for your property taxes. Show evidence for what your property was worth on January 1 of the given year. Do not use current comps, but rather sales from January 1 to March 31 if possible. If you need help doing this, please contact me since I run a property tax appeal company and I can give solid support for your property’s value at a very reasonable cost (usually around $100). I find most cases do not warrant a full appraisal, but rather a mini-report.
Check your assessed value for 2011 by clicking on the following links. You may need to enter your APN (assessor parcel number), and you should be able to quickly retrieve that on the Assessor’s website. If not, call me and I’ll get it for you.
Sacramento County Assessor’s Website- Placer County Assessor’s Website
- Yolo County Assessor’s Website
- El Dorado County Assessor’s Website
- San Joaquin County Assessor’s Website
- Solano County Assessor’s Website
I hope this was helpful to begin to lay a general framework for important property tax details. If you have any questions about the 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 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.
I call this time of year “property tax season” because conversations with home owners start to really heat up now that April 15th has passed and most local Assessors will soon publish their 2011 property tax figures. Ever year around this time I get a great deal of calls about reducing property taxes in the Sacramento area. Let me share with you three of the tax situations I encountered last week:
Owner of vacant parcel: I just spoke with an owner of a 
Paying twice as much: In the past two days I spoke with a home owner who is paying more than twice as much in property taxes as he should be. His house is worth less than $200,000, but it is assessed at $400,000. Keep in mind that every $10,000 in assessment equals about $125, so this owner is essentially overpaying by $2,500 per year.
My own property taxes: The Assessor agreed to reduce the assessment on my own property by $27,000 for my 2010 property taxes. They ended up agreeing with my appeal last year, so on Friday I faxed back a “tax withdrawal” form to say I’ll accept the new value. This is not a huge savings, but I don’t mind getting a refund of $330 or so. I’ve been successful at appealing my own taxes for three consecutive years.
How do you know if you should appeal your property taxes? First of all, please do not pay anyone to appeal your property taxes until you know how much your property is assessed for 2011 and also if it really makes sense for your wallet. As an FYI, 2011 assessments will be announced anytime between May through July for most counties surrounding Sacramento. I made the video below last year and I think it may help provide a good context for understanding whether you should appeal or not. You may also wish to 
Email Sign-Up: I am glad to keep you in the loop about important property tax appeal deadlines and general information for counties in the Greater Sacramento Region. There is no obligation to do business with me and I’ll only email you once per quarter. 
Why am I telling you this? Because I am committed to being honest with you about the property tax appeals process and how you can save money. If it looks like the Assessor has your value wrong, I am glad to partner with you to help the Assessor understand true market value. My company’s fees are very reasonable too. On the other hand, if it looks like the Assessor has your property assessed accurately, you don’t need to do a thing.