Expert Appraiser: Trusts, Divorce, Property Tax

I have been assisting clients with property tax reduction requests, as the county has based their taxes on valuations as of January 1, 2010 (or in some cases 2009). Sometimes the assessed value is much higher than the market for that time, as the number crunching is typically done by computers, and not by an individual appraiser. 

We have assembled some effective packages for the assessor staff to review. In one case, we were able to get the value adjusted downward by $600,000, for the tax year 2008. This means that most likely, the owners will be avoiding overpaying taxes of about $30,000 in a 5-6 year period. That truly makes it worthwhile!

In another case, the county had over-valued some vacant land by a wide margin, and we developed several documents, appeared at the office for a hearing, and were subjected to a several month's delay. It can wear you down, and make you think about giving up.

In any and all cases, you need to have a professional appraiser at your side. At these hearings, I have seen dozens of cases being evaluated. The homeowner trying to do it himself is no match for the county assessor staff, who have access to much more information that you can get from Trulia or Google or Zillow.  Think about that $30,000 figure above.  Do you want to just hand that amount of money over, without a fair hearing, and with extensive documentation to support your claim? Call our office at (310) 505 5916 for more details.