Tax appeal in Maryland What I went thru today

[Matthew Paul]

I appealed my property taxes like I do every 2 years . I took pictures of the properties . To show the condition . I examined the property work sheet and found some things that were wrong  , sq footage was too large . My biggest complaint was the "land value" .  On a recent purchase , they had the land valued at $190,000 , but the purchase price of the house and land was $160,000 only 1 year ago . Total assessment was close to $250K .  ( things are not rising that fast around here)  I did have some other recent sales of similar properties and vacant lots , NONE were even close to $ 190K on the land alone .  Similar properties were selling $140K to $225K .  

It was a 1 on 1 conversation with a rather nice state employee . Now the interesting part is they have arial photos going back to 2006 , year by year . The guy says they are flying planes over the whole state all the time taking photos . He showed me , There was 1 picture where I could see my tools layed out on a picnic table while I was working and I was in the picture (wearing the same coat I had on in his office)

I asked him to go back to 2006 on 1 property and show the progression , I showed him where I have been removing buildings and they need to be deleted from the tax records . One that I removed wasnt shown because it was recent , and I told him . He then said he believed me , due to the progression in previous pictures , and the condition in the older pictures .  I will wait and see what they say