Title TAXES- WHY PAY TOO MUCH? 0
You need to be your own advocate when it comes to dealing with your real estate tax values and the accuracy of the information the county has pertaining to your property.
With the economic downturn and decline in housing prices, the County Appraised Value may be significantly higher than the actual market value of your property.
I appraised two homes last week, one for a divorce and one for a mortgage loan. The divorce concerned an average house in Upper Arlington (2,800 sf, 8/4/2.5). The county appraised value was roughly $150,000 more than my market value estimate. I was not being conservative. This over valuation is costing my client more than $3,000 per year. When I brought to her attention she said she knew the taxes were high, but didn’t know she could do anything about it.
The second scenario involved a modest home in north Columbus. The people had purchased the the home in 2005 for $175,000 and the county now had it appraised at $211,000. I appraised it for $170,000. I noticed during my inspection that the County had miscalculated the square footage of the home indicating it had 1,900 sf+- by double-counting in their computations. The property actually had 1,600 sf+- or 300 sf less. These people have been paying at least $1,000 per year extra due to the Counties mistake. By contacting the County Auditor they should be able to obtain the proper size and more appropriate value. They had no clue that the size of their home incorrect.
In both situations the people involved could have saved themselves a significant amount of money by just paying attention and being proactive. It is imperative that the county have an accurate basis on which to base their valuations. If the size is incorrect, your value will be incorrect as well. Since your taxes are determined based on the relationship between the tax rate and the indicated appraised value they will be off-the-mark as well.
There’s no point in paying more taxes than you have to. By making sure that the information the county has regarding your property is accurate you might be saving yourself a significant amount of money.
You may think that you as an individual my not have occasion to hire an appraiser. You may want to think again.
