Reduce Your Property Taxes!

It’s that time again… property tax notices are showing up in mail boxes around the country. Most people are expecting lower taxes (you know, because property values are down), but actually, many home owners and investment property owners are seeing an increase in their property taxes. What’s going on? With the state of the economy and falling property values, many local governments have been forced to increase the rate (percentage) applied to the valuation of your property, just to try to keep needed tax revenues from falling off a cliff. The result is often disappointing to the property owner who sees no drop in the tax bill or possibly even an increase even though the assessed value went down. Is t here anything you can do about it? Yes, you can challenge the tax assessor’s valuation of your property. About this time last year, I heard David Dinkel give a talk at the B.R.E.I.A. (Broward Real Estate Investor’s Association). Dave said there are often firms you can hire for a fee to attempt to challenge your tax assessment, but you may be able to do it yourself. He recommended that if you just call the assessor’s office and speak to them politely, courteously, and professionally, they will often review your assessment and see if there are any reasonable facts to support a lower assessment. What are some of those possibilities? The property details (square footage, improvements, etc.) may be incorrect in their database. There may be better (lower) comparable properties to compare your property to. There may be a small fee to file a challenge (mine was $15.00). The Wall Street journal had a recent article detailing the steps ( Read the WSJ article

) that was very useful. Check it out. Dave Dinkel’s advice was good. I received a re-valuation of an investment property that shaved several hundred dollars off the final tax bill… just for asking for a second look in a calm and courteous manner. Most real estate investors are always looking for ways to reduce expenses. You should be doing the same thing! It makes sense to look at tax bills any time, but in times when the economy is stressed, it makes even more sense. Get a little more information. Read the Wall Street journal article. Use your local government as a resource…check out your local property assessor’s web site for details on how to challenge your assessment. It could save you a lot of money!