March 3, 2009
Property Tax Assessments. What Do They Mean?
Inhabitants are looking more strongly at their property tax assessment. After all, a property tax assessment is only an estimation of value that should be double checked by you. By disputing into the tax assessment process, you will make the tax assessors more accountable and the whole methodology will become fairer.
Contrary to popular belief, tax assessors almost never make an assessment on a house. That job is hired out on a bid basis to professional area blanket appraiser organizations who determine market value for the homes in a given neighborhood and come up with a valuation.
The appraising team needs to make a return on their per house bid charge and have to allocate a portion amount of their time per appraisal. They blanket large areas and make their valuations rather quickly because of money and time restraints. Glitches frequently occur. Consumer Reports has printed the error rate equals 40%.
Unfortunately there exists a method that seems to compound the problem in that the market value of a house is divide by a sales ratio and that number and is given as the assessment. Everything of property assessments depends on the sales ratio. Different states and jurisdictions call sales ratio by other names but meaning the same thing. This can be called, based on on the jurisdiction, assessment level, director’s ratio, the average ratio, the common level of 100% of true value, RAR (residential assessment ratio) or the equalization rate (which may not always be equivalent to the sales ratio).
NOTE THIS FORMULA: The market value of a property = the “assessed value” that the county tax assessor came up with DIVIDED by the sales ratio. That looks like smoke and mirrors to a lot of individuals.
It is easy to get snowed by this price approach and get confused. Many don’t know what the firm valuation the town placed on their home is.
Take for example, if the sales ratio for an area is pegged at 70%, a $500,000 dollar home should be assessed at $350,000. So, if the homeowner sees that their home is assessed at $420,000 he/she might be thinking they are getting a great deal, but in reality they are getting duped. Assessed value nomenclature muddies perception.
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