Contesting Property Tax?

Question

I purchased a property in Birmingham, AL (Jefferson county) for $65K but on the county's tax assessor website, the property tax is being calculated as if the property is worth $84K.  It looks like that was the assessment in 2007 before the crash and it has remained the same ever since.  Can I contest this??  How do I go about doing this?  I'm assuming I should contest it now rather than later?  I appreciate all the advice I can get!

Scott Lewis · Answer

Hi David, I would do this ASAP, as in DC, a new owner has 45 days from date of purchase to request a reassessment based on several factors or they have to wait until April.

Most jurisdictions will probably have some form you need to fill out and submit to your assessors office which they will ignore and then lose it, so you'll have to resubmit four times before you get an answer (it took us 90 days and three resubmittals to the SAME person.)

Implied task, make sure you keep a copy.

Brian Cloud · Answer

Jay Benoit is correct.  It only happens one time per year.   This past year the cut off was around June 10th and they give you about 40 days with the new tax value.  So nothing can be done now.  But I suggest you do your due diligence now and be ready for the ones you want to protest.  It can be an uphill battle.

On a side note, we are pushing to have these positions elected rather than appointed.  It was not added to last year's bill as we had more pressing items to handle.

Carol Helton · Answer

Hi David,

Here is some information you can use from the Jefferson County website: http://jeffconline.jccal.org/Default.asp?ID=896&pg...

Contact Information

Address:Gaynell Hendricks, Tax Assessor

Room 170716 Richard Arrington, Jr. Blvd N

Birmingham, Alabama 35203 Phone (205) 325-5505Property Tax Group:

For Tax Assessor Information - (property assessing, mapping, homestead, 65 and over or disability exemptions) - please contact: Contact_Tax_Assessor@jccal.orgTax Collector information- (billing, payments, tax sale or redemptions information) - please contact:Contact_Tax_Collector@jccal.orgBoard of Equalization information - (property value or property value protests) - please contact:Contact_BOE@jccal.org

Contact Information

Address:

Gaynell Hendricks, Tax Assessor

Room 170

716 Richard Arrington, Jr. Blvd N

Birmingham, Alabama 35203 Phone (205) 325-5505

Hopefully this will help!

Carol Helton

Investment Advisor

REI Trader, LLC

J Benoit · Answer

You can contest this but only at a certain time of year.  The value you are contesting is not today's price but last years price.  You must be prepared and have good comps.  Lately they are not giving as many discounts since the market has started to rise.  Also, the county earns revenue on this so they are not going to give in too easily.

Michaela G. · Answer

I know every county and state is different.

In Atlanta, I believe that you must have owned it on Jan 1st of that year, in order to appeal. I've done a number of appeals there, providing comparable sales etc, and that's what I seem to remember.

If you bought after jan 1st, then you can appeal the following year, because you will have been the owner on Jan 1st.

Brooks Rembert · Answer

@David Hodge Every county is a little different, but you should just be able to reach out to them and request a new assessment based on your recent sales price.

They may not assess it as low as you'd like, but every bit helps.

J Benoit · Answer

@David Hodge I was going to suggest you connect with him :-)

Royce Talbo · Answer

@David Hodge One thing you might have left out is, is this an arms length transaction or was there something wrong with it, like foreclosure, short sale, off market etc.  If so then your property cant be used as a comp and they will just use other sales comps and make adjustments to come up with your property value.  If it is a a good sale then they can use it as a comp and it will be the best comp, might not bring it down to the price you bought it for because of the other comps that are used, but it should help.  Like others said above every state is different, if you are contesting for last years value then you have to do some research and if that can even be done.  If you are contesting for this years value then find out when their cut off date is for assessments so you can find the right comps.  Basically they are valuing your property on what fair market thinks its worth not what you pay for it.

Michaela G. · Answer

@David Hodge,

is it really an inflated number? Being a real estate investor, I would think that you would have not bought the property for 65K, if you thought it was only worth 65k. ;-) . I would expect the 65K to be lower than market value or it would have been a bad deal.

So, you need to send comps along and show them that other similar properties only sold for 65K as well.

David Hodge · Answer

@Brian Cloud do you have any insight into the questions I posted directly above? I don't understand how this is legal (calculating property tax using an inflated number).