Appealing Property Taxes

When Tiger came to the scene this decade, the popularity of golf spiked. With that, the golf business, including golf course residential development took off. If you own a home on a golf course, its not as desirable as it once was, and with Tiger taking a leave from golf, the industry is going to suffer and property values will fall. If you are still reading this stop, it’s a joke. The only real part is that if you live on a golf course, your property taxes may be too high, as assessors were pretty aggressive in the value they put on golf course frontage.
SAve Cash Money Appeal Your Property Taxes

Appeal your property taxes even if you are thinking of selling
When a prospective home purchaser is looking to purchase a new home, the price of the home and the cost of living in the home become two of the most important factors. Today, almost all loans are requiring property taxes to be escrowed with the lender. A lower property tax bill means a lower escrow which means a lower payment which means the homeowner can afford to pay more for your house. To save money on your property taxes you need to follow the time frame and take advantage of this opportunity each year that values are going down. Find an aggressive company that will take your case on a contingency basis, like www.weappealpropertytaxes.com, you have nothing to lose and a whole lot to gain.

Well, this is rather simple. One of the greatest economic gifts the government gives us is the ability to deduct interest and property taxes from our income. Make sure you pay your property taxes this year, if you want the deduction against your 2009 income. Even with an appeal to save money on your property taxes, you are still going to have pay them. If an appeal is successful you will get the saving returned to you.

So take advantage of the gift we get from owning a home and pay your taxes during this calendar year.

It doesn’t cost much, there is only upside, and you can generally know whether you will win or lose before you even spend a dime on filing fees. Save money by appealing your property taxes, its the biggest no brainer. With housing prices reportedly devalued by up to 50% in some regions of the United States, there’s no time like the present for property owners to reap the financial rewards of a property tax reassessment and save money appealing their property taxes. This could be the biggest thing you can do to put a dent into your annual household budget.
No joke, this single action alone could save you thousands of dollars per year.
Now, your local tax collectors are banking on you finding it too complicated and time-consuming to make the effort, but were here to assure you otherwise. We have this down to a science, we do all the work, you save 100% of the money after the first year, year after year after year.

In Michigan, each property taxing authority has an appraiser that they hire or sub contract out. This appraisers job is to put a value on all the property in their jurisdiction. They do what is called a blanket appraisal. They take the square footage, a few other quantifiable measures and come up with a value, this is then compared to all other homes. There is no way they can be accurate, especially in a down market. They have not been to my house, have they been to yours? We don’t criticize this method, it really is the only way they can do it efficiently and get close. However, you don’t have to live with it like the over 98% of homeowners who don’t appeal the Michigan State Equalized Value and ultimately their Property Taxes statewide. The appraiser is not going to guess on the low side of value, don’t you think you need to make sure they are not guessing on what results in your biggest housing expense, your property tax bill?

Who Appeals Their Property Taxes in Michigan?

Well a lot more people appeal them today then they used to. In 2008 their were over 15,000 property tax appeals compared to about 8,500 in 2006. We expect that in 2009 the appeals are going to exceed 18,000. There are still 16,000 cases pending in the tax Tribunal dating back until 2004. Don t let these numbers scare you. These numbers have put pressure on the Tribunal and how the state of Michigan goes about applying fair property tax rates. It does delay the time that is takes an appeal to get flushed through the system, but all homeowners should make sure they are not paying too much. The change in your property tax bill will be that way year after year, so its worth the wait.

As you would imagine, most appeals do not go all the way to the Tribunal to hear the case. They get settled just like any other type of court case. Knowing how to settle, knowing the assessors, the city lawyers, helps get this done effectively and efficiently. That is what we do.

Have you tried to appeal your taxes on your own?
Many people tell me they have tried to appeal their Michigan property taxes on their own. Somebody this week told me they appealed their property taxes and where not given a reduction. After a quick discussion I learned that they went to the Board of Review, which is required in Michigan. These guys (the citizens who sit on the Board of Review) don’t adjust over 90% of requests (not sure if that number is exact, but I made it up by talking to 10 people). This is not appealing your property taxes, this is just making a reservation to appeal your property taxes. You have to do this to be able to file the appeal with State Tribunal.
So don’t think by going to the board of review, you have done what is needed.
Get an expert, weappealpropertytaxeses.com, is an expert at property tax appeals in Michigan.

Property values are going down and property Taxable Values (TV) can rise. This is all a result of Proposal A. Michigan Proposal A, voted on in 1994 requires that real estate tax valuations not be correlated from the real estate market, and bases solely on the CPI. The only time this would change would be when the property is sold, and the taxable value is uncapped.
In a real estate market where values are increasing rapidly, say at annual 10% increase, Proposal A was a help, the tax rate was only going to go up at the CPI, this was what changed the Taxable Value, the only value that matters to the taxpayer for what they will actually pay their taxes on.

In Michigan 2009, the CPI would increase the State Equalized Value (SEV) 4.4%. If the SEV is lower then the taxable value it is a given that the Taxable Value will be dropped to the SEV, even though this is a given, mistakes are made. If the SEV is higher then the Taxable Value, the Taxable value will be INCREASED, by up to 4.4%. This is what needs to be looked at closely, and why understanding the SEV and values is so important. To properly appeal property taxes in Michigan, understanding the intricacies in an up and a down market is vitally important to not pay more than your fair share of property taxes.

The National Taxpayers Union is credited as saying that as much as 50% of all property in America is over Assessed, that sounds like a serious union, many of these 25% or more over assessed.

Many taxpayers have the impression that their assessment is fair if it is below the current fair market value. However, what we really are looking for is equitability. Everybody has to be treated the same.

The fact is that property should be valued equitably with similar type property within the same taxing jurisdiction. If a taxpayer’s property is assessed at 95% of fair market value and, in the restof the jurisdiction, similar properties are assessed at 75% of fair market value, what’s fair about that?