Home Reassessment Question

[Golden sunsets]

Our Town is about to embark on a full scale home revaluation of all properties in our town. I think it has been 10 years since our last revaluation. Our State/Town does not have any Prop 13 type protections, nor is there an automatic percentage increase in taxes based on a rule or state law. Essentially, homes are assessed at a dollar value. Each town approves a budget and a mill rate is established based on the town wide dollars of valuation/the budget. I'm not sure if it will scu the valuations any but our town has had a ridiculous amount of market value increase in the last year. There seems to be no end in sight.

We've been through at least 2 other reassessments since we've owned this home and probably have on the previous 3 homes we have owned, going back to 1980. Never have the assessors entered our home. We have never been asked to allow entry. We are aware that they do visit the outside of the property.

We received a letter yesterday stating that they would soon visit the exterior of properties on our street. The letter went on to say that, later in the summer we will receive a letter with instructions on how to schedule the interior inspection. The letter plainly states that "while it is not mandatory for residents to allow inspectors interior access, your cooperation is vitally important to maintain the accuracy and uniformity of assessments."


I am not inclined to invite this inspection, but am interested in other's perspectives. Our home is 30 years old and the town has the GLA correct and we have not finished any below grade space. We have done major renovations of the baths and the kitchen in the past which did not require any BP's. We consider ourselves good law abiding citizens willing to pay our fair share, but it just seems to me like letting them inside is like writing a blank check for "extra increases" in our assessment and eventual tax bill.

Thoughts

 

[sengsational]

If it were me, the first thing I'd do is make sure what they have in their system, square footage-wise, bathroom count, etc, is accurate. If it's higher than reality, I might invite them inside to correct that. Given that stuff is accurate already, it's hard for me to think of something they'd reduce if you let them in. Oh, hardwoods, oh, crown moulding, etc, etc.

 

[HawkeyeNFO]

Yep. Tell them to leave, no trespassing.

 

[pjigar]

They wouldn't even dare to send such a letter in our neck of woods. I would not let them enter my house.

 

[Whisper66]

Yep. Tell them to leave, no trespassing.

+ 1

 

[njhowie]

Our home is probably 20 years older than yours. About 5 years after we purchased the township assessor pulled up on the driveway unannounced and said that they haven't looked at the inside of our home since we purchased and it's standard that they do it. After a few minutes of discussion, asking to see his township id (he showed up in a personal vehicle), I let him in. He had the floor plan for the home and was simply verifying that what was shown on the plans he had matched what was in place. It took maybe 5 minutes to walk through.

Now, I completely agree with you, that if you are given the option of not allowing it, then why offer? Your conclusion is spot on.

Folks do do work inside their homes without permits, without having the township reassess when it is called for, and I understand their desire to reinspect periodically if there is some mandate in place. It seems that when there is a transfer of ownership is when it makes the most sense. However, again, if there is no requirement for the homeowner to allow it, then why should they when asked?

 

[Aerides]

Nope, no, never. I guess that's one advantage to living in a bigger town - no resources would be enough for where I live!

It seems awfully bad timing too.. I mean not just late-phase-pandemic, but during a completely insane housing market where determining price is meaningless about 5 days after the data is captured.

I hope participate in local elections...

 

[njhowie]

They wouldn't even dare to send such a letter in our neck of woods. I would not let them enter my house.

Their alternative could simply be to make (potentially unjustified) assumptions, raise your assessment, and then put the onus on you to prove that they got it wrong. That would likely be a more difficult scenario for the homeowner, getting them to lower your assessment, having to prove they got something wrong, and ultimately still not allowing them in to look around. Just playing devil's advocate.

 

[Golden sunsets]

Our home is probably 20 years older than yours. About 5 years after we purchased the township assessor pulled up on the driveway unannounced and said that they haven't looked at the inside of our home since we purchased and it's standard that they do it. After a few minutes of discussion, asking to see his township id (he showed up in a personal vehicle), I let him in. He had the floor plan for the home and was simply verifying that what was shown on the plans he had matched what was in place. It took maybe 5 minutes to walk through.

Now, I completely agree with you, that if you are given the option of not allowing it, then why offer? Your conclusion is spot on.

Folks do do work inside their homes without permits, without having the township reassess when it is called for, and I understand their desire to reinspect periodically if there is some mandate in place. It seems that when there is a transfer of ownership is when it makes the most sense. However, again, if there is no requirement for the homeowner to allow it, then why should they when asked?

Do you recall if your property was revised upward after the interior visit?

 

[Golden sunsets]

Nope, no, never. I guess that's one advantage to living in a bigger town - no resources would be enough for where I live!

It seems awfully bad timing too.. I mean not just late-phase-pandemic, but during a completely insane housing market where determining price is meaningless about 5 days after the data is captured.

I hope participate in local elections...

I'm kind of thinking that their second letter with instructions on how to set up the interior visit, will be largely ignored. We'll see.

 

[Golden sunsets]

Their alternative could simply be to make (potentially unjustified) assumptions, raise your assessment, and then put the onus on you to prove that they got it wrong. That would likely be a more difficult scenario for the homeowner, getting them to lower your assessment, having to prove they got something wrong, and ultimately still not allowing them in to look around. Just playing devil's advocate.

Yeah, I suppose so, but I think most will be looking for those sorts of changes that are not based on a visit. I do have a copy of our current assessment card and will make sure that nothing untoward has been changed. We had this home custom built back in 1990/1991, so we are very familiar with our specs.

 

[statsman]

Their alternative could simply be to make (potentially unjustified) assumptions, raise your assessment, and then put the onus on you to prove that they got it wrong. That would likely be a more difficult scenario for the homeowner, getting them to lower your assessment, having to prove they got something wrong, and ultimately still not allowing them in to look around. Just playing devil's advocate.

A quite common outcome, I'm afraid.

 

[njhowie]

Do you recall if your property was revised upward after the interior visit?

No, there was no adjustment in our case - things matched what was in the plans they had on file.

However, there were certainly a couple of things the assessor could have done that would have caused them to reassess and increase the value. Thankfully that didn't happen, and 15 years later they have not visited since.

 

[REWahoo]

Nope, no, never. I guess that's one advantage to living in a bigger town - no resources would be enough for where I live!

Same can be said for those of us living in rural counties. With 16,000+ homes scattered across 1,335 square miles, most everything is done these days via satellite photography and deed registration.

 

[Secondact]

The only reason they want entry to your home is so they can see all of the nice improvements since their last assessment. Granting this privilege will only increase your taxes.

 

[ncbill]

I'd be happy to since everything in my home is original except for the yellowing builder-grade vinyl in the kitchen I had covered with a better grade of vinyl...very cushy on the feet versus tile or other hard surface treatments.

 

[Bamaman]

My question is what did the reassessments in the past do to your property valuations and ultimately the taxes? Do you have much to fear?

Such evaluations are usually state mandated to be done every "X" years. Cities and counties have better things to do with their time other than open a few thousand "cans of worms." With new assessments also come a huge batch of owners formally questioning those property valuations.

If I lived in high property tax places like Connecticut, Long Island or Texas, I'd be having a heart attack at reassessment time.

Our property tax increases would require a state constitutional amendment and that would require a vote of the people. Individuals here want less government and they'll never vote for high property taxes. We just have 9% sales taxes instead. Alabama property taxes on a $400K home might run $1,200 a year--unless you're disabled in which case there are no state or local property taxes.

My best friend in Texas sold his North Dallas house and moved to a luxury apartment when his property taxes hit $50,000 a year. No thanks!

 

[jazz4cash]

I would not let them in. I spoke with a State assessor once. He was walking around the neighborhood looking for obvious changes like decks and pools. He asked if we’d finished the basement. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d try to peer through a basement window though.
The system you describe sounds antiquated. The State assesses every home here on a three year cycle. They are somewhat impartial since it is the County that sets the rate and benefits (or not) from changes in the assessed value. They primarily rely on comparable sales but can also use cost to rebuild as an alternative. Having fancy upgrades to the interior won’t make a significant difference. We did see significant reductions after the housing bust ‘07-‘11. Any increases are phased in 1/3 each year of the cycle. We had a high assessment last year which I successfully appealed so the process worked pretty well for me. During my research I noticed many neighbors had assessments that were out of line or they never applied for a homestead credit. I had also realized that many property detail errors were recorded during those go-go days. We had trouble getting a decent refi appraisal once because of errors on the comp’s property report.

 

[RetiredAt55.5]

A quite common outcome, I'm afraid.

+1

One of the bigger mistakes I've made, that I'm still kicking myself about and was unable to fix. If I had to do it over again, I definitely would've let them in.

 

[Golden sunsets]

Good questions Bamaman;

So our property taxes are currently about $7,800/yr, not out of sight, but not small.

You are right regarding revaluation. They must be done whenever townwide valuations are out of wack from MV by more than a certain %, or 10 years, whichever is less. At that point a global revaluation must be done. We were due for a revaluation in 2020, but the State Legislature passed a deferral for any affected community due to the pandemic.

Fast forward 1 year and many(perhaps most) towns are doing one this year.

Generally speaking our taxes increase every year. Our town, one of the highest valued towns in our state has done a good job of keeping increases in taxes in check. Valuations don't change annually, but mill rates change (total town valuation/approved budget=mill rate per thousand dollars of revaluation). It's at the time of revaluation, that the apple cart can be upended.

This year, we all know that our valuations will increase, but it's the relative valuation changes between commercial and residential property, or between coastal or lakefront residences vs inland homes, or one neighborhood vs another, or smaller vs larger, etc. that create potential disparities and resultant disproportionate changes in taxes vs other residents.

 

[OldShooter]

Their alternative could simply be to make (potentially unjustified) assumptions, raise your assessment, and then put the onus on you to prove that they got it wrong. That would likely be a more difficult scenario for the homeowner, getting them to lower your assessment, having to prove they got something wrong, and ultimately still not allowing them in to look around. Just playing devil's advocate.

Of course. If the assessor has found that most similar homes have had kitchens remodeled, bathrooms upgraded, or other similar value added, absent other evidence he/she will logically assume that your house has been similarly upgraded. The fact that your refusal may indicate that you have something to hide just supports this approach. In our state there is a quality control check on estimated market values where the state compares county assessors' EMVs to actual sales and tracks average error. The assessor's goal for every house is to get the number right, but you can probably increase your valuation slilghtly by being a major PITA about it; that's just a prediction based on human nature.

I let them in without question.

 

[Sniggle]

As others have stated, definitely be sure that the data that the government has is correct (sq ft, # bedrooms, etc.) and that the new assessed value is in line with values in your neighborhood. After re-assessment, they will probably have a panel where home owners can dispute the new assessment. I had to make my case before that panel in 2010, when they assessed my house as having a 2nd floor the same size as the 1st floor, when in fact it is only 60% the size of the 1st floor.

 

[pb4uski]

We went through a town-wide reappraisal last year. It's a bit of a crapshoot. If your % increase is less than the % increase in the grand list then your taxes are lower (assuming the same budget) or the inverse. And while they say that they appraise to fair value, they really are consistently lower than fair value as that results in less grievances.

 

[Golden sunsets]

+1

One of the bigger mistakes I've made, that I'm still kicking myself about and was unable to fix. If I had to do it over again, I definitely would've let them in.

Retired at 55.5 and Statsman; Your responses are an eye opener. So you would let the assessor into your home?

 

[Golden sunsets]

Of course. If the assessor has found that most similar homes have had kitchens remodeled, bathrooms upgraded, or other similar value added, absent other evidence he/she will logically assume that your house has been similarly upgraded. The fact that your refusal may indicate that you have something to hide just supports this approach. In our state there is a quality control check on estimated market values where the state compares county assessors' EMVs to actual sales and tracks average error. The assessor's goal for every house is to get the number right, but you can probably increase your valuation slilghtly by being a major PITA about it; that's just a prediction based on human nature.

I let them in without question.

OK. Another vote for "Invite them in".

I would note that the property card on our home indicates construction grade as "good", and kitchen and bath quality as "very good". The neighborhood in general has similar ratings, although some construction grades are listed as good + 20%. Also, not all homes have renovated kitchens and baths. I think that's a big factor and I imagine does/or should affect assessments. We spent over $200,000 gutting our kitchen and master/guest baths over a 10 year period. We used high end finishes/appliances. Not all of our neighbors have done so. This fact goes back to my original post/quandry. You apparently think that the assessors may assume that we have, but we actually have, so perhaps we lay low because they'll get us anyway.

But oh darn, we want to pay our share, so I'm torn.