Property Tax assessment vs Appraisal

A home tax assessment is simply used to determine the value of the property for taxation purposes and may or may not reflect the actual market value for what you could actually get for the property if you sold it. The valuation is supposed to be based on a blanket appraisal for the area the home is situated in, however with the high cost of a blanket appraisal for the town or community, previous assessments are often rolled over.

Tax assessed values are used only by the property tax authority of your county or municipality in order to bill you properly. Your home’s appraised value is supposed to represent the fair market value of the property.

Over time, the appraised value of the property could far exceed the assessed value. On the other hand, some tax authorities re-assess only every few years. This might cause a drastic increase in tax bills.

Property Tax assessment vs Appraisal: Real Estate Tax Appraisals Define the Value of a Property

Blanket appraisals for towns and communities are competed for by larger real estate appraisal firms on a bid basis. The low cost bid generally wins the job. The financial profit the winning bidder is based on how fast he can get the job done. Often little time is allocated per dwelling. Sometime previous assessments are rolled over by the broker. Sometimes appraisal allocations are based on a key home in the area for a faster valuation.

It’s worth repeating, without blanket property tax assessment, often municipalities will roll over a previous year’s assessment using a multiplier. This is done without physical inspection. Needless to say, errors and excessive assessment occur and unless appealed, the victimization continues!

A property appraisal, on the other hand, is a more involved hands on process than a property tax assessment. The appraised value of a home is most commonly needed when the property is being purchased with a new mortgage loan or the existing loan is refinanced. The mortgage company wants to make sure they aren’t lending more money than the property is worth.

A property appraisal, on the other hand, is a more involved process than a property tax assessment. State licensed appraisers complete the appraisal. Generally, appraisals are conducted on behalf of a mortgage lender. The appraiser visits the property and tours the inside of the home. Based on a review that looks at building materials, improvements and overall size – in addition to recent sales of comparable homes in the same area – the appraiser makes an estimate on the fair market value of the property.

Real Estate Appraisal Cost

The cost for a real estate tax appeal appraisals is high. For the average home, it will cost $300 to $600 for a professional home appraisal. If the property tax appeal is taken to a higher level of appeal, costs rise.

It could be every 8 to 20 years an expensive audit is conducted on property valuation to equalize the real estate assessment of an area to actual market value. A town advertise for real estate appraisal companies and choose on a bid bases who won the blanket property tax assessment for all the homes within that township or municipality.

Consider the small time investment in determining true market value when the last blanket property tax assessment occurred, there are many homes that should appeal their assessment. Rarely do they appeal.

How many homes are in your zip code and what percentage have suspicious property tax valuations?

The process has NOT changed. Cheap, hastily done blanket assessment contain errors and are often rolled over year after year. There is NO OVERSIGHT … unless appealed. Most don’t because of time constrains or process angst.

States with multipliers hoodwink many a homeowner into thinking they are under assessed. This can be called, depending on the jurisdiction, the sales ratio, the average ratio, assessment level, director’s 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). 

Millage Rates Calculations (Investopedia: How to Apply Millage Rates)

Some counties have millage rates. The millage rate is the amount per $1,000 of property value that is used to calculate local property taxes.

With the property’s tax-assessed value and the total assigned millage rate, a homeowner may calculate annual property taxes. A home’s tax-assessed value is a percentage of its market value. In some locations, the assessment of tax is on 100% of the market value. However, in other places, tax-assessed values can equal as little as 10% or less of the market value. The millage rate has an impact on the property’s tax-assessed value.

For example, consider a home with a market value of $200,000 in an area where the tax-assessed value equals 20% of the market value. As a result, the homeowner property tax has a basis of $40,000.

The Need For Property Tax Consultants

You can earn boatload of money in this business. When homeowners get their yearly property tax assessment notice they usually have 2 months to appeal.

The likely reasons they don’t appeal is they don’t have the time and energy to jump through those hoops with all that’s on their plate. Most families have both husband and wife working, a busy domestic and social life and their time is limited.

The National Taxpayers Union writes that as many as 60% of all homeowners are over-assessed and not in line with their home value.  Consumer Reports has published that property tax records show an error rate of 40% exists in estimating property taxes.

Do you think that you’re state is any different? Considering the limited time that was used assessing a neighborhood, a spectrum of errors are sure to exist. Real estate tax appeal cost for filing the county form is usually small, in the fifty dollar range.

What’s Included In This Complete Property Tax Consultant Home Business Course

Property Tax Appeal forms

Pre-written, ready to use PRESENTATION FORMAT for every property tax appeal.

Extremely Useful Free house appraisal and property tax appeal forms. The forms are PDF downloadable and provide a generic template to organize your information in an acceptable format so you can present your evidence in good style. It is similar to that used by licensed real estate appraisers. You’ll be given the password to access this information shortly after your order.

Property Tax Forums pre-written forms, letters, customer contracts you’ll ever need to do business Invaluable Sample Fee Agreement Forms, Fill In Fee Agreement Form, Sample Advisor/Agency Authorization Form, Fill In Advisor/Agency Authorization Forms, Residential Solicitation Letters, Signed Contract Transmittal Letters, Thank You For Choosing Our Company Letters, We Have Filed Your Appeal Letters, Invoice Form For Services Rendered, Enclosed Is Your Invoice Letters, Past Due Notice Letters.

Property Tax Consultant Marketing Plan.

This is the ins and outs for making this business work. All the methods, advice and tactics you’ll need to fast-track this business. You learn how to set up your business and learn how to go about marketing your business to a huge population of potential clients.

FREE Updates for life.

Invaluable Keep yourself updated with the latest research and property tax appeal advice for life.

FREE Persuasion Tactics & Persuasive Sales copy Ebook.

Tax assessor make thousands of mistakes and are not fired, but the can be held accountable with a property tax appeal. Appeal if necessary. HELP THE OVER-ASSESSED with a Property Tax Consulting Course.