Is there anyone out there with success/experience in challenging property tax assessments?

Submitted by Kooky_Deal9566 t3_zy6nrg in baltimore

The assessed value of my property increased by 40%. I did some digging into it and it appears that the land value for my property is about $20k higher than all the neighboring properties on my side of the block (and about $60k higher than properties across the street). Per square foot, the improvement value is nearly $50 more than the more recently renovated home next door. I paid above market value for it in 2021, and the new assessed value is identical to the closing price.

In short, I think my new property value is about $30k above what it should be. With Baltimore City property tax rates set to increase, this overvalued assessment will raise my yearly tax payments by about $2k. I plan to appeal the assessment, but am curious if anyone out there has had any experience and/or success in doing so. I'd appreciate any "war stories" from the appeal process as well.

Now, before people chastize me for trying to get out of paying taxes...I understand that across Maryland assessed property values have increased by about 20%. My issue is not with any increase; my issue is that my property is valued significantly more than similarly sized and recently renovated properties on my block. I'd like to pay my fair share, but nothing more than that.

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Unusual-Thanks-2959 t1_j244n1k wrote

I appealed a few years ago in person (pre-covid) and was successful. What they care about are recent closed comparable sales, not current "for sale" listings. Also verify that the description of your property in their system is correct, number of bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage, etc. Mine said I had a "super bath" whatever the f* that is, which it does not. Edited to add: If this is your primary residence, confirm you're signed up for the homestead tax credit, which limits the annual increase of the assessment. Homestead tax credit

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Mountain_Flow7759 t1_j249itj wrote

Was coming here to comment about the homestead tax credit. Not nearly enough people know about it and take advantage. Homeowners as well

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YorickTheCat t1_j24fq07 wrote

My title company made sure I knew to do this. I'm surprised that so many people don't seem to get this information from their realtor or title company.

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gothaggis t1_j25sb2d wrote

I closed in April of 2021. Due to backup, I didn't receive the application until October 2021, I applied. However, if I look up on REal Property Search, it says no application on file. Anyone know how long that takes to update correctly? Sent a message to the tax assessment office, but who knows if I will ever hear back.

My house was not accessed at the correct value for a long time - and now with this assessment I just got, its going up an additional 4k/year. They are assessing it now at the purchase price I paid (which I overpaid by about 50k) - which obviously is going to sting. Not sure how to contest it when its what I paid for it.

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rockybalBOHa t1_j247ecb wrote

I challenged about 8 years ago and won. It took about a year. I was dealing with SDAT assessors who seemed clueless. Eventually, I got a hearing and won. I had stacks of evidence, including data on many comps.

It's a frustrating process. Be diligent.

The assessors are completely overwhelmed. They have too many houses to assess, and their evaluations make little sense. After studying this for a while, I concluded that a major problem is the number of homes that are assessed for way under market value. (Sounds like OP is seeing this with their neighbors, which is what I saw too). I think assessors under assess because they know the city's tax rate is so high. Some of us are unlucky, like me and OP. But most homeowners are actually pretty lucky in this regard, i.e. their assessments don't increase to current market values, especially if the sales occurred years before.

If the assessments were accurate and matched current market values, our property tax rate could be slashed with no reduction in total tax revenue.

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SisqoEngineer t1_j25jny2 wrote

I bought my house 12 years ago for 185 and it's been assessed at 125 until now. It's only going up to 165 which is comparable with the few neighbors that are similar and recently sold in the weird area I'm in.

I'm still going to appeal just to see what happens and see their data.

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OwnEqual8219 t1_j244xkk wrote

I’ve been told to always, always challenge the assessment, even if you don’t think it’s incorrect. We won’t close on our house until Feb, so I don’t have personal experience with it, but apparently challenging the assessment at least keeps the door open for an assessment more favorable to you.

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LaunderMachine t1_j24iyvi wrote

This post made me go look at my own SDAT and it appears that it says my home is a 4 bed 3 bath even though it was sold to me as a 3 bed 3 bath. The room in the finished basement doesn't qualify as a bedroom because there's no egress window. Am I missing something? Should I call them? Anyone have a phone number?

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YorickTheCat t1_j249zao wrote

I appealed and won. I asked for a copy of the information that the assessment was based on, and asked for an in-person meeting. I brought with me what basically was a mini-thesis I put together of comps that I asked my realtor to pull, printed out listings/pics of the properties recently sold in my neighborhood, pics of my house, etc, to make my case. I found some errors in the info they had (for example I do not have a finished basement) and the pictures of my house showed I did not have the kitchen or bathroom renovations shown in the listings of homes that recently sold. The assessor I met with was easy to speak with and I didn't get push back in light of what I showed. Good luck!

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Animanialmanac t1_j24b6x0 wrote

I’ve always appealed through the mail, always been approved for a lower assessment. 10 appeals over the years all approved. I don’t know anyone who was denied.

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Timmah_1984 t1_j24ah2d wrote

I had a similar situation this year. Our property was way undervalued for years. We bought the house in 2021 and they reevaluated six months later to match the sale price. My problem was there are comparables (otherwise the loan wouldn’t have been approved) and it’s hard to say they overvalued it given that’s what we bought it for. Of course there are also plenty of houses that are undervalued because they haven’t been re-assessed in years. I didn’t have any luck but you really have nothing to lose by trying.

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Smallmeadow83 t1_j24v4bj wrote

Isn’t this what the homestead tax is supposed to protect you from? Doesn’t it keep the state from increasing the property tax more than 6% annually? Am I dumb?

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moderndukes t1_j24w6jd wrote

It is, which is why I commented asking if this happened before or after they purchased the property and if this is their only house. They also purchased “above market value,” which might complicate things.

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TheSchneid t1_j28y29e wrote

You don't qualify if you make over 60k.

I'd literally save money every year if I took a small pay cut... My taxes are going to be like $500 a month soon for a less than 1000 sqft house on a busy noisy street. I think they are pulling a lot of comps from the quieter surrounding blocks. Guess I need to try and appeal.

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Smallmeadow83 t1_j2ci88f wrote

Ok so is that the same for the county? Also, I was approved when i applied so hopefully I’m still good.

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explodingkneez t1_j24e2pu wrote

>the new assessed value is identical to the closing price

Something is worth what someone is willIng to pay. You done ducked yourself.

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rockybalBOHa t1_j24zijp wrote

The rules of the game are unfair.

Let's say "House A" and "House B" are identical and located adjacent to each other. In 2010, both houses sold for $200k. In 2015, House A sold for $250k, and in 2020 House B sold for $400k.

Should both houses be assessed for the same value in 2022 since their market value is the same ($400k or so)? Most of us would say "yes", but you'll find that is almost never the case. Identical or very similar houses oftentimes have wildly different assessments.

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MereyB t1_j264uy6 wrote

We challenged and won - we used SDAT for square footage of property and residence, number of bedrooms/baths and what those properties were assessed for. Ours was way higher than others on our street and we by no means have the biggest house. We used all that info to challenge. We were reassessed because we bought the house that year and put considerable work into it, converting from three apartments to a single family home.

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guest0112 t1_j24ezji wrote

I challenged and we settled in the middle, in-between the price we bought it for and their original assessment. We bought one of the cheapest houses in the neighborhood so their algorithm/formula pushed our houses value up. For example, we have a “bathroom” that’s really just a toilet and a wall in the basement. But in their system it’s a bathroom. Also our basement isn’t finished but in their system it was

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Any-Grapefruit-937 t1_j24fhn1 wrote

How does the assessed value relate to the market value? Also, I can get comparables for houses in my neighborhood but how do I know what their new assessed value s? Are they already on SDAT?

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moderndukes t1_j24w9an wrote

They said in the post the assessment matches what they paid for it in 2021

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mjccjm77 t1_j2748x9 wrote

I used a private company who does all the leg work and will review your case and see if they think they can lower your value. Took about a year total. Their pay is a % of what the adjusted amount is. PM if you want to their contact information.

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arniemaas t1_j28tnzh wrote

I successfully appealed and won multiple times. My best advise is when you go meet with the assessor, you need to come in with evidence to support your suggested value. In each instance, they asked me what I thought it was worth. By evidence, I mean assessed values of comparable homes, recent sale prices of comparable homes, comparable homes currently on the market for your target value. Everyone has heard “location location location” so the comparable homes need to be in your area. Print off your evidence and bring it with you and as long as your evidence is solid and your suggested value is reasonable I suspect you will win.

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bookoocash t1_j24im3h wrote

Ours jumped about 10%. It was valued at 262k, now it’s been reassessed for 288k. We paid 270k. Given how things are right now, I wonder if it would even be worth it to appeal. Yeah, it’s more than what we paid but I also think houses of a similar quality and size to ours are selling for at least 300k, if not more right now.

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moderndukes t1_j24w1dx wrote

> I paid above market value for it in 2021, and the new assessed value is identical to the closing price.

Well there’s your first problem in all of this.

But second, did the value increase after you had purchased the property? If so, and if this is your only property, it might quality for Homestead which means the tax bill can only increase so much year-to-year. However, it’s over the course of your ownership of it and you qualify for Homestead then the bill might be decreased.

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midwestUCgal t1_j252lvy wrote

Lol I’m also in Waverly and mine decreased by about 7% for no discernible reason

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BillyMumfrey t1_j25pv8j wrote

I got my letter in the mail yesterday, and it looks like my tax assessment was lowered by a few thousand? Is that common here (We’re fairly new)? I was fully expecting it to go up the 10% max allowable by Homestead.

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quarkkm t1_j2c7m0s wrote

We challenged ours about a year ago by video. The state will provide worksheets of how other properties are assessed for I think $1 each. They also will tell you what comps they used. In our case, our house is 725 sq feet plus a finished basement built 100 years ago and updated piecemeal over the years. The comps the state used were three houses that had been torn down and completely rebuilt including the foundation in the last 5 years. All houses were >3k SQ feet and one was almost 6k. Like, sure, they adjusted for square footage but it seemed like an incredibly dishonest choice of comps.

We found multiple houses in about a 3 block radius around us that had sold recently. All three houses were fairly in line with ours, 700-1000 square feet plus basements, older and not very updated. We then requested their assessment worksheets and figured out that the main difference was in the depreciation percentage. During our video appeal we concentrated on showing how old and crappy the stuff in our house is to show that our depreciation was similar to the other comps and not to a brand new house. Things like broken cabinet doors and really stained counters, the 50s bathroom, the complete lack of insulation, the early 80s boiler and 20 year old AC. We provided our comps also and pictures of some stuff that was hard to see on the video.

Our house had been assessed for $150k more than we paid for it in 2017. We were able to get 55k knocked off. I still think it's too high but we did add a garage and fighting it more seemed not worth it.

Oh yeah, and after the appeal we could not get an answer from sdat as to the final disposition within even close to the legal timeline and after multiple attempts to follow up. I ended up needing to contact my state delegate to extract the answer. They were pretty responsive until then so no idea what happened there.

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