Property Tax Revaluation--What if the assessor was denied access to home?

FIN......iggy the non Mainers, they don't realize that in Maine the town tells the re-assessors to come in. They have to to re-evaluate your house. If the guy lets you slide, then U are lucky, but don't expect it to last forever. The town I live in is the one that used to have Maine Yankee ......boy we have been arguing over the assessments for 2 years. Now there is a company going to every door and inside. Been downtown, but hasn't been here yet.
Others tell me they just run through every room and then measure the outside.
But if you own a valuable piece, suck it up, expect to pay your taxes. If not this year, then the next. You know people are looking at your place wondering if you are paying your taxes. You should hear the gossip and jealous speculation that goes in around here!

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A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

When denied access, Assessors can use their best educated guess... that includes dimensions. Every taxpayer has the right to appeal. Although as someone already mentioned, that can go either way as the assessor then has the right to review ALL of the property. Also, it's important to know what adds value and what does not. For example, in our county, decks and open porches do NOT add value to your tax base, but enclosed (even unheated) porches DO.

They do NOT come into the house where I live. They only measure the outside of the house. It's NONE of their business what's in my house and the law doesn't allow them to come in.

Denied entry into what, the property, or inside the house? Do you happen to have a link to the specifics of this law?

I find this interesting since I appealed my assessment a few years ago, and the assessor requested to come inside the house for a look see. I told her I would allow her to inspect the inside of my place just as soon as she allowed me to inspect the inside of the three "comparables" the county supposedly used for the revaluation...
That ended the conversation right there. Much to my surprise she agreed to my appeal for the most part (I had submitted detailed pictures of the house etc) and lowered the revaluation. They did try to wait me out though like they always do, but I was not bitting, I had time to wait.

Of course I also appealed the revaluation of my other WA property, and in that case I had a direct comparable to base my appeal off of. The property next to mine sold for much less than what the county was saying my piece was worth. Went to an appeal meeting that had the assessor, and three "citizens of the community". I had my ducks in a row, with documents, facts etc. They were caught with their pants down as they did not know about the sale of the comparable I was using. They were embarrassed, and dismissed my appealed outright.

Here in Snohomish County the assesors don't come in the house. For new construction they use info from the building permits and plans and try to talk to someone when they make the initial photos, otherwise it goes strictly by the building permits. Reassesment is every two years and just involves a drive by to look for obvious changes or improvements. Our property taxes have been going up fairly slowly, mostly from additional levies and bonds and the general increase in value seen in most of Western Washington. Our market value has gone up about $100K in the four years we've been here, the tax assesment is about $30K below the market value for next years taxes.
I consider myself a responsible citizen, I voted for most tax measures and voted for the people to administer them therefor I don't feel I have any need to complain. Taxes are how we pay for fire, ambulance and police service; how we pay for the roads, schools, mail delivery etc, etc. I have very rarely encountered a public official or employee who was not concerned with giving me the best service they could. This hostility to government I find unfathomable. If you don't like how things are done, then work to change the rules or the people that administer them.

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If angels existed, they'd probably be considered big game. (Don Swain)

Home schooling.........not just for scary religious people anymore. Buffy

Check your local laws - some have them do market value, some have them do a percent of another type of value, some just seem to have an arbitrary figure they pick. In any case, they are performing what is called "mass appraising" and often involves nothing more than entering the # of bedrooms, # of bathrooms, # of acres or square feet, and neighborhood into a computer program and spitting out a value (or several values at once). Most taxing areas don't even inspect annually, it's usually on a multi-year cycle (like every 3 years). Not every state allows them to come onto the property without permission and not every state allows them to come inside your house.

In your situation, I would let them assess it and when you get your little card in the mail that says what they think it's worth, you can decide then whether or not to appeal. Why give them more information in the meantime if they are going to be below a figure at your maximum toleration? Then the burden of proof would be on you and it is a pain to juggle ethics with telling them what you want them to know and only what you want them to know. Usually the conversation starts out the way you want it to go and quickly leads to things you didn't want to cover...

Anyway, most states also have more than one ground for appeal - actual value in relation to the market (depending on the definition of value they use) and fairness (have they assessed another similar property at less than yours without reason?).

Just a few months ago there was a case of a tax assessor coming onto a persons property with out notification. The owner came up behind him with a large machete. The tax assessor had two choices, leave or take the chance of being cut. He chose to leave. He also filed assault charges on the property owner. The property owner was not arrester or charged since there is a law you can protect your property against trespassers. It was in all the newspapers as the property owner was a judge, kind of a strange person, but a judge anyway.
The property owner had to accept the assessemant of a real angry tax assessor or allow him onto the property to do the assessment.

Property here is assessed by aerial photography unless the homeowner disputes the assessed tax amount.

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"I didn't have time to slay the dragon. It's on my To Do list!"

Are any of you "no coming in" people in Maine?

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A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

I just had to add my 2c. I've appraised hundreds of homes for taxes. I prefer not to enter the home. My first concern is my personal safety. My second concern is my time. A few times I've entered because it's cold and I figured I could take on the elderly lady if she got violent. To appraise your home for taxes I would measure the exterior of the house and the porches. RE people need to measure rooms, tax assessors do not. After that, I quickly assess the style, 1 story, 1 1/4, 1 1/2, or two. Basement or crawl. Age of foundation, old houses often have additions, so each part is figured seperately. I make an assessment of the quality of the building. It is assumed that you have either a well and septic, or city water and sewer. It is assumed that you have indoor plumbing for the kitchen and bathroom. A large house it is assumed you have more than one bathroom, and in cookie cutter neighborhoods I will assume you have what your neighbors have. I can tell on an old house if the windows are replacements or the vinyl siding is new. I assume you have forced hot air heat and a hot water heater. I don't care if you have a dishwasher or new carpeting, but an outside hottub is assessable. I try to make a judgement on how well kept up the house is and make a determination to bring the value down from 100% (new this year). I don't need to come in the house unless you want to show me something. For instance, sometimes a person will say the recreation room in the basement is just as good as the upstairs. Unless the house was designed as a trilevel or quad, the basement rec room is rarely high quality, and I don't add to the assessment for it.

I need to talk to the homeowner to make sure any information I already have on the records is accurate. I need to know if there are problems with the house so I can depreciate it more than I might have. If the present homeowner has made replacements and updates I need to know so that I can remove the updates from the assessed value. In Michigan, any replacements and repairs that you make to your home (like a new roof, new kitchen, etc) adds value to the true cash value of your place, but it is not included in the assessed value until you sell the home. Additions are new and are added to the value.

If you must pull permits in your locality the assessor is supposed to be given a copy of the permit so he or she can add value if applicable.

In some areas the landscaping will be assessed on the land value portion, but it would have to be some pretty impressive landscaping.

I do not take your word for it as to the size of any of the buildings. People are usually wrong and I don't like to add more square footage to a building than is actually there. Your house and outbuildings look a lot newer and bigger from the street than it does up close.

Whenever an appraisal is done you should go to the assessor's office and get a copy of your record. If there is a mass appraisal, the company should have a day or night set up for people to come in and view their property tax record. At this time you can comment on any mistakes made. Don't be angry, just set the record straight.

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Nothing is as strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength - St. Francis de Sales

I've been here for 15 years, if they've reassessed, they came by when I wasn't home (the dogs probably would not let them in the gate or even out of their vehicle). A few neighbors have been assessed. Usually the assessor didn't measure, just ask the owner what year the house/barn/sheds/etc. were built and what size the buildings are.


Maybe it's different in Michigan, but down here attorneys are not allowed in small claims courts. The purpose of small claims is to level to playing field by requiring both parties to represent themselves. I've used the system a time or two and was informed that each party is free to consult an attorney before appearing, but the attorney is not allowed to appear with them in court. Maybe it's changed, but that was the rules a few years ago when I last used the system.

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[QUOTE=below the market value for next years taxes.
I consider myself a responsible citizen, I voted for most tax measures and voted for the people to administer them therefor I don't feel I have any need to complain. Taxes are how we pay for fire, ambulance and police service; how we pay for the roads, schools, {mail delivery } etc, etc. I have very rarely encountered a public official or employee who was not concerned with giving me the best service they could. This hostility to government I find unfathomable. If you don't like how things are done, then work to change the rules or the people that administer them.[/QUOTE]


Sorry, mail delivery isn't paid for by taxes, real estate or otherwise.

Mail delivery is paid for by use taxes (postage) and a federal budget allotment (income tax, customs revenue, etc), but you are correct, it is not paid by local taxes.

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If angels existed, they'd probably be considered big game. (Don Swain)

Home schooling.........not just for scary religious people anymore. Buffy

I don't have a problem paying a reasonable amount of taxes for fire, police, and other public services that are necessary. It's the huge amount of waste that I object to. The system is set up so each department is allotted a set amount of money to spend. If they don't spend it all, then the following year they are allotted less money. In order to keep their allotment high, they hunt for ways to spend more money so they can get more money. Many of the dept. heads base their importance on how many people and how much money they control. So their goals are to control more people and more money. To get more money they have to spend more money. They invent “jobs” so they have an excuse to hire more people and spend more money. It's an endless circle that is costing more and more every year.

When are they going to figure out that the bottomless pit of money doesn’t exist anywhere other than in their greedy little minds? They have been working under the assumption that they will have enough people to support their system or they can continue to raise taxes to get more money. They have forgotten to take into account that families are smaller now. We no longer have families with 8, 10, or 12 children who grow up to feed the tax system. Less people are going into the system to support this huge tax web they have developed. That means a larger burden falls to each taxpayer so they can keep the “pork” projects fed. The whole house of cards will come crashing down some day. They will all be standing in the rubble with dumbfounded looks, wondering what happened. Someone, somewhere needs to wake up and take action to get it under control before the collapse.

This might explain why they want to legalize the illegals that are swarming into the country. Maybe they think the illegals will replace the workers that are not being born in this country today. Maybe they don’t see them as law breakers, they probably see them as additional revenue and think that they can collect more taxes so they can spend more money.

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I didn't read all of the threads, so i don't know where this attorney thing is coming from. You can have an attorney represent you at the Board of Review, or if you take your complaint to the next higher level with the state. I have had lawyers represent taxpayers at the board of review, and at the next level, and they are expected if you take your compaint to the capital.

I don't recommend using an attorney. I've had few attorneys represent a taxpayer (or in one case, the assessor) and they don't know the laws as they pertain to property tax assessment. I suppose you could find someone who is an expert in commercial property. I've never seen one get an assessment lowered. Unless you are really poor in communication, the average homeowner will do a better job at the board of review than an attorney will. And, although I'm not intimidated by lawyers, sometimes people on the board of review will be very angry that you sicced a lawyer on them. It suggests that they, the board, are trying to cheat you, which they are not.

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Nothing is as strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength - St. Francis de Sales

I like that, but I wasted 30 minutes moving the bed in here so I could lay down to read it, LOL.

Alaska is a non-disclosure state, which means that you do not have to disclose the purchase/sale price of the property to government (really to anyone unless you hired the appraiser or the bank to appraise it or loan on it).

Also, assessments for the major population centers are usally online but not all the details are there. The files are a good resource and ANYONE can go pull them to have a look-see.

I agree with copperkid..I went to small cliams court against a realtor who I worked for fixing up an old house.The realtor knew he couldn,t show the hosuee with it trashed and full of dog poop.It had been ocuppied by squatters.I did the work and when I went to collect I was told that the "owner" had not authroized the work..I took the realtor to court and he showed up with a lawyer..I won.
but this is canada.Mite be different elsewhere
Gord