Home Reassessment Question

[pb4uski]

Stop giving up your rights before you have no more. Never consent to a warrantless search of your property.

There are so many good reasons to have your home's interior value appraised by your community's inspector! Definitely invite them in. Things I've enjoyed from accompanying the inspector inside my home. ...

Wow! We've had a couple real extremes in this thread today!

 

[OldShooter]

... Taxes are a good thing--never a burden--if we only consider trying to do without what taxes pay for.

Wow. I never thought about it that way before. Maybe we should just give the politicians all of our money and trust that they'll give back anything that they can't find a good use for.

 

[aja8888]

There are so many good reasons to have your home's interior value appraised by your community's inspector! Definitely invite them in. Things I've enjoyed from accompanying the inspector inside my home include:

* Information about how my improvements have changed my home's resale value.

* Learning about changes in tax structures.

* Discovering how my neighbors' home improvements (or lack thereof) have improved or decreased the value of my home.

* Getting advice about what things are drawing my value down, and how to improve/repair/replace/upgrade them so my home is more likely to provide a better return on investment.

* As time passes, nothing gets cheaper--unless you don't upgrade your home. It will be worth less and less unless you keep it up.

* Part of keeping up your property's value is having well-maintained roads, clear views at intersections, proactive tree & water control, upgrades in sewer systems to accommodate changes in neighborhoods, better schools, safe bridges, excellent police & fire & emergency rescue staff & equipment, better facilities for voting safely, clean air & water, and more. That all comes from your property taxes, and all those things we rely on can degrade and fall behind, and even wear out & break, when we try to hide our property's value in an effort to pay less taxes. Imagine trying to build the road that goes past your home all on your own budget. You'd never be able to afford it. Now imagine all those other services I listed above, that we all rely on and enjoy to make our homes comfortable and safe, being severely and increasingly underfunded because people act selfishly and don't want to pay their tiny portion of taxes that make those important things possible. That's not right.

I want the inspector inside and outside so I can keep taxes lower--through helping everyone pay the fair amount for those services, instead of just a few people paying lots, and most everyone else hiding their homes' value--all in the name of paying less taxes.

I only see benefits from the inspections. Yes, I may pay another hundred bucks, or more, next year on my home's appreciated value. But the police will be there when I need them. The schools will produce intelligent kids that grow into adults who can innovate and be quickly employed. The roads will have the snow plowed quickly, and potholes repaired, and be painted and serviced when they should be. And the bridges won't be falling down.

All because I, and everyone else, pay the taxes that make those good things possible. Pay your fair share, and donate to your city & state tax funds--you can ear mark special things you're particularly interested in--like libraries or parks or bike paths--to help get them going and maintained properly so you & your family & friends can enjoy them.

Taxes are a good thing--never a burden--if we only consider trying to do without what taxes pay for.

Is your tax assessor a trained and certified home appraiser? If not, then his opinion on interior improvement value factors may not be accurate.

 

[aja8888]

Wow. I never thought about it that way before. Maybe we should just give the politicians all of our money and trust that they'll give back anything that they can't find a good use for.

OS, believe me, they are working on that independently!

 

[pb4uski]

Is your tax assessor a trained and certified home appraiser? If not, then his opinion on interior improvement value factors may not be accurate.

+1 IME our assessors don't even begin to have the knowledge and depth of experience to provide any insights like that.

 

[lawman]

Wow. I never thought about it that way before. Maybe we should just give the politicians all of our money and trust that they'll give back anything that they can't find a good use for.

It's become clear to me this is one of those times I should just check out lest I want my head to explode.

 

[Golden sunsets]

Wow! We've had a couple real extremes in this thread today!

You can say that again. I'm not sure what to do about my own home and scheduling an inspector. My instinct tells me that few will arrange for the interior inspection, but I will ask my neighbors what they are going to do, once that second letter comes out.

 

[pb4uski]

You can say that again. ...

Wow! We've had a couple real extremes in this thread today!

 

[Hyper]

When we moved here in 13' we bought a home in desperate need of complete gutting which we did. We do all work ourselves so takes us considerable time to finish. The assessors showed up 3 times in the first four months we lived in a gutted house and this was through the winter. Really torqued me off as that was ridiculous imo and waste of taxpayer $. The last time they showed up I met them while on my tractor half way up the drive with the bucket 6' off the ground. They did stop! It didn't go well from there. I had to appeal every bill from that point forward. The last assessor was corrupt and was voted out from a very dirty campaign. Very ugly deal. She was a HORRIBLE liar and was easy to catch in one as every other word was a lie. It came to the point that I wouldn't go in without DW being with. We've been in a state depression since 2010 so our valuations have gone drastically down yet we've only had one reduction in our taxes of 8$. It's gone up every other year close to $100 even though we are supposed to be at our max mills and supposedly only way to increase is with a voted in increase... Still don't understand that. I have a real problem with that as that's not the way it's supposed to work. Fast forward to us building a house right beside the remodeled one and same scenario. Multiple times showing up while we built the home ourselves. I finally told them to tax it as if it were done even though it was long from it being done. I would NEVER let them in and I knew well that they would tax our place to the highest for it. Our system evaluates every aspect on a 1-10 scale. The best thing that ever came about was county mapservers which show all tax records for every home in the county. You can really learn alot and compare homes. We are fairly in the know as we've built multiple homes. We have 2 million dollar homes paying the same taxes that we are for our little 1000sq ft home in our county. I could cause a huge issue in this county if I wanted to from the previous assessors corrupt ways. Most counties now have "mapservers", "parcel viewers" and I definitely recommend all learning how to use them to keep assessors honest. This is the only county we've lived in to date that has been corrupt. All other assessors we've found to be honest and fair.