Property value and taxes

[csell]

Hi all. Does anybody have an idea whether Sonoma County is considering appeals for lower taxes based on the drop in value of our homes? I apparently bought at the "high" and based on the appraisals I have heard for my property lately, I should be saving $2-3K/year in taxes. What is the appeal process?

Thanks--Carolyn

[jitterbug]

This might be what you are looking for:
Sonoma County Assessor

Click on the link that says "Informal Request for Decline in Market Value Prop 8 Request"

Good luck!

Hi all. Does anybody have an idea whether Sonoma County is considering appeals for lower taxes based on the drop in value of our homes? I apparently bought at the "high" and based on the appraisals I have heard for my property lately, I should be saving $2-3K/year in taxes. What is the appeal process?

Thanks--Carolyn

[Tars]

Thanks for the links, jitterbug! Didn't know this process was available. Carolyn I hope you'll post the general results of your tax-reduction application here.

[csell]

I'll be happy to. It's a simple one-page application so I can't see much disadvantage to giving it a try.

--Carolyn

Thanks for the links, jitterbug! Didn't know this process was available. Carolyn I hope you'll post the general results of your tax-reduction application here.

[RussianRiverRattina]

Hi Carolyn.

We appealed our property assessment & the County lowered our property taxes by 1/5th -- not as much as we wanted, but definitely more than we expected from them! We were pleasantly surprised to discover that the people at the Assessor's office have been quite responsive & understanding.

1. First, you download a 1-page form from the SoCo Web site (as mentioned by Jitterbug) & fill out the information. The form is formatted as a PDF & is located at: https://www.sonoma-county.org/Assess...op8Request.pdf. The form is short & simple. It asks for your name, address, parcel number, what you paid for your house, the current assessment & "your opinion of current value."
2. The current time period for reviewing appeals to property assessments is July 2, 2009-November 30, 2009. You need to send your form in between these dates.
3. The hardest part about filling in the form is coming up with a realistic (& printable) number for "your opinion of current value." (since "my home is #%!@-ing underwater, you *$@%! jerk who still has a job" won't get you very far) We went to Trulia.com to look up "comps" -- sales prices for comparable homes sold within the past 12 months. Trulia.com provides detailed information & offers a wide range of options for fine-tuning your search.
4. You'll definitely need to fine-tune your search, because you won't get helpful or realistic values by simply searching for homes with the same number of bedrooms & bathrooms as yours (a 2/1 on 30 acres is definitely worth more than a 2/1 duplex). You'll want to compare your home to those with similar interior & exterior square footage (give or take 100-200 sq. ft) & number of bathrooms (which add more value to the home than bedrooms). Neighborhood, year built, & amenities (granite counters? hot tub? recent remodel?) are also contributing factors, but often matter less than you'd think.
5. To obtain a realistic new value for your home, add up the numbers from your comparable listings & divide them by the number of comparable homes & there ya go.
6. Send the Assessor's Office a cover letter, list of comps (you can create a spreadsheet, bulleted list, or simply print out the listings), & the form. Also, make a copy of these items for your records.
7. Wait, and wait, and wait. Call every now & then to follow up. They're not being jerks -- in fact, I found the folks in the assessors office to be helpful & responsive -- it just takes a long time to go through all the forms & look up comparable properties.
8. Someone from the office will call to inform you of their findings (i.e. what they think the current value of your home is) & will then present it at the next meeting of the Appeals Board. When this is approved, you will receive a written statement.
9. Alas, current policies prevent the folks from the Assessor's office from factoring in sales data from comparable properties resulting from short sales & foreclosure auctions. This kind of sucks when pretty much the ONLY homes comparable to yours are selling via short sales & foreclosure auctions. Not that I've ever experienced that or anything ;^) When I pointed this out, the assistant explained that SoCo will reconsider this if foreclosure sales exceed a certain (alas unspecified) percent.
10. We applied for a reassessment last November. The folks at the County granted us the reassessment for both 2008 & 2009. Normally, you have to reapply every year.
11. If you pay your property taxes through an escrow account with your bank, you'll need to send all this stuff to your bank so they'll lower your monthly payment. Otherwise they'll keep charging the same amount forever & ever.
12. Remember that not all property taxes are assessed as a percentage of your property value. Some are assessed at flat rates which are the same for everyone regardless of the value of their property. So you probably won't save as much as you want, regardless of how low your property's value has plummeted.

Good luck!

Hi all. Does anybody have an idea whether Sonoma County is considering appeals for lower taxes based on the drop in value of our homes? I apparently bought at the "high" and based on the appraisals I have heard for my property lately, I should be saving $2-3K/year in taxes. What is the appeal process?

Thanks--Carolyn

[Anja11]

Thanks, Jitterbug!

I've dealt with the Assessor's office a couple of months ago and found them to be very helpful and willing to work with me.

My appraiser told me exactly what he needed to re-assess my house and 3 weeks after sending him the paperwork I had a re-assessment in hand. The only thing I'm still waiting for is the refund for property tax already paid at the higher value in order to avoid penalties.

A.

This might be what you are looking for:
Sonoma County Assessor

Click on the link that says "Informal Request for Decline in Market Value Prop 8 Request"

Good luck!

[RussianRiverRattina]

The refund takes forever, but you'll get it.

Thanks, Jitterbug!

I've dealt with the Assessor's office a couple of months ago and found them to be very helpful and willing to work with me.

My appraiser told me exactly what he needed to re-assess my house and 3 weeks after sending him the paperwork I had a re-assessment in hand. The only thing I'm still waiting for is the refund for property tax already paid at the higher value in order to avoid penalties.

A.