What Is Mesothelioma?

 By Terry Price


If you own a residential home, there are literally hundreds of ways that you can get your property taxes reduced, sometimes almost immediately! When was the last time you had your property record reviewed by the property assessor? There are literally thousands of people every year that end up paying excessive property taxes. Why? Mainly because most people feel intimidated or threatened and would rather "JUST PAY" instead of making their local authorities accountable to them.



It all boils down to the assessed value of your property. The property assessment and taxation system follows a framework shared throughout North America. Numerous municipalities are going to market value based assessment systems, and therefore, you are able to relate the assessed value of your property to what it could potentially have sold for as of a specific date. Whether you are in the United States or Canada, the method of delivery by each municipality may be different, but the bottom line is you pay your property taxes based on a specific assessed value. Did you know that your property taxes are one of the few government-imposed taxes in today's society that can be disputed with relative success? Your success will depend on your skills or basic knowledge of how your property is assessed and your ability to determine how much your property is actually worth.

Numerous factors come into play when it comes to calculating your assessed value. The most important factor in determining the value of your property is location. Through the eyes of the tax assessor, it is a very important factor when it comes to calculating your final value. They also take into consideration such items as site influences, which include such things as proximity to traffic flows, views, golf courses, waterways, commercial establishments beside you and dozens of other items.
Items specific to your actual house such as square footage, structure style and design, depreciation, renovations, additions and numerous other items also affect the assessment on your property. There is usually a 30-day period in which you can file a complaint to a review board after your assessment notice has been mailed to you. Did you know that an error of 50 ft.² or more is quite common in a lot of homes and you could literally end up paying hundreds or possibly thousands of dollars less on an annual basis because of this one error in your property record?

There are various other terms used within the assessment and property taxation industry that you should be familiar with so you can approach your local assessor with confidence. When you are knowledgeable, you can put them on the spot and get the answers you need to make sure that you are paying only your fair share of the property tax pie. Being familiar with such terms as valuation models, base year, condition date, and final date of complaint will help you understand their explanations when discussing your property. If you plan on challenging the assessed value of your property, a visit to your local assessment office could be one of the best things you've ever done for your family's budget.

As a former tax assessor, there were times that I gave instant reductions of $1,500 or more due to errors that were revealed on property record cards. Your municipality is obligated to correct these errors immediately, and henceforth, you're going to enjoy paying significantly less taxes as a result. Unfortunately, the onus is placed on you, the homeowner, to bring to the attention of the authorities of any errors on your record. Since they have literally thousands of properties to revise and change on an annual basis, numerous errors are made that go unnoticed year after year. When I was working in the field for 20 plus years, I found properties often where people had been paying excessive property taxes for 10, 15, 20 or even 30 or more years and they didn't even know it. Don't become one of these unfortunate folks. Do your homework now. When was the last time you reviewed your assessment record?

Terry A. Price is a regular contributing author to the expert author community and is committed to bringing quality usable content that you can take to the bank now. Terry is a retired Property Tax Assessor and has revealed some amazing inside secrets on getting your property taxes reduced.

=