Friday, April 11, 2008

Are You Paying Too Much in Property Taxes?

According to one report, as many as 60% of homes are over assessed for property tax purposes. And, when your home is over assessed, that means you are being overtaxed.

If you are a homeowner, you can combat this problem. Start by taking a trip to your local assessor's office or web site and check out your property detail card. It lists all of the features of your home - square footage, number of bedrooms and bathroom, characteristics, and so on. Chances are, there may be a mistake. The most common mistake seems to be square footage. If there are errors, the assessor might be able to change them on the spot for you.

You can also pull the property detail cards on your neighbors who have similar homes, and compare your assessment with that of five to ten similar homes in your neighborhood. If assessments on similar homes to yours are lower - you will have a good case for appealing your assessment - and thus your real estate taxes - based on uniformity.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Good info! Thanks for the tip, I'll definitely be checking that out. ;)