60% of Homes Assessed for Too Much, 33% of Property Tax Appeals Succeed

Just a short post here on what I found to be two astonishing facts about home property taxes. It's from a Kiplinger piece titled Cut Your Property Tax:

As many as 60% of homes are assessed for too much, estimates Pete Sepp, of the National Taxpayers Union, and about 33% of property-tax appeals succeed.

Wow! Those are BIG numbers!

The first number isn't as surprising as we all know that local governments are looking for extra revenue wherever they can find it. That said, 60% is still way high.

The second number blows me away -- I would have guessed it was more like 10%. But the fact that 33% of appeals are successful just goes to show that assessors know they are charging too much. And when you really think of it, what I'd call the "effective" rate of appeals is much higher (just take out the people who are poorly prepared and don't know what they are doing and that's probably at least 30-40% of the total.) So you may have numbers in the range of 60-80% of people who come armed with the facts and present them in a polite and positive manner have successful appeals.

Of course I'm speculating here, but I think you can at least agree a bit with my line of thinking.

For more on how to get your property taxes reduced, see these posts:

• Reduce Your Property Taxes

• How to Contest Your Home Assessment

• Property Tax Tip

Comments

[Lord]

It is notable how efficient they are when it comes to raising them and how overwhelmed they are when it comes to lowering them.

[rocketc]

I wonder what the percentage of refinance appraisals that are too high. 100%?

[Patrick]

My house was appraised almost $30k too high. All it took for me to get them lowered was a phone call. The county sent an appraiser to reassess the property (They did it from the road and didn't even come in the house). A few days later the county called me back with their ruling. In the end I saved several hundred dollars a year. :)

rocketc also makes a good point...

[Minimum Wage]

If you think homeowners are overtaxed, try selling your house and renting. Prop taxes are higher in most states on rental prop than on owner-occ homes of equal value.

[Tawnya]

Yeah! Our house appraisal went from 180 to 246k! We did appeal, armed with a reputable realtors valuation of 210k, but we also showed any improvements that needed made with estimates for the work. A new bank was also robbed a mile away, so we used that too! They reappraised for 193! Gather your facts!