Massive 118% property value assessment increase

[Peter Wachira]

I rent out a 2 unit property in baltimore county. I just got a notice from the MD department of assessments & taxation that the value of my property will increase from 120k to 261k , spread out over 3 years equally.

This is a ridiculous increase of 118%. I have read some articles that say assessments are up about 20 % . I plan to appeal this but I'd like to hear if this has happned to anyone else.

[David Krulac]

One year we appealed the assessmnet on 65 of our properties.  We did all the research and comps ourself and did not hire either an appraiser or an attorney.  I went to every one of the 65 hearings myself and got 61 properties lower and 4 remaining the same.  Of those four, two were lowered in a subsequent appeal.  You need to review the assessment record for your property as there may be errors.  One property the square footage was high because they assumed both florrs were same size and they were not.  Another property assessment included another home that had been demoed/removed before we bought the property.  Another one had a detached garage that was not on the property.  Another single family house had two front doors and they assumed it was 2 units, it was not.  There have been errors in the land size.  I recently worte here on BP about an "8 acre" lots that was really 1.8 acres, and another lot that was listed at 1.6 acrea and was really 0.6 acres.