Appealing Real Estate taxes

[snaffle]

n mchenry county Illinois; (some of this might apply to you)



1. check filing deadline here;

www.co.mchenry.il.us/departments/assessments/Pages/TownshipFilingDeadlines.aspx



if your deadline has come and gone, you will need to do your appeal next year.



if you still have time, follow these steps;



2. download tax appeal packet:

www.co.mchenry.il.us/departments/assessments/PDFDocs/Residential%20Complaint%20Packet.pdf



3. find recent sales comp of houses that are like your own home and that have recently sold for a lot less $ than the "Fair Value" on your latest tax bill. i used the following sites;



a. chicago.blockshopper.com/

b. www.zillow.com/



4. look up the property tax info on your own home and comps here;



mchenrycotaxweb.org/cgi-bin/taxbill.pl



5. look up assessments on your township website;



www.co.mchenry.il.us/departments/assessments/Pages/AssmtInfo.aspx



6. if you are having a hard time finding comps on blockshopper or zillow; drive around your area and find like homes, write down the address and go look them up on the property tax website and the assessor website. i lucked out while doing this and found a property very similar to mine that appealed their taxes last year and got reassessed, i was able to use that to my advantage.



i did the research and paperwork myself, it took about 6 hours of my time. mine was more difficult than a home in a subdivision and therefore finding comps was more challenging but i managed to get it done.



if you don't want to find comps yourself, there are other ways you can do this;



1. hire an appraiser, tell them what appraisal is for. cost, around $350



2. if you recently bought your house compare the "Fair Value" to the purchase price, if you paid way less then you can submit your sales contract in your appeal as evidence.



3. ask a realtor to do a sales comp report for you, helps if you know realtor; cost, free, but i would buy them dinner for their trouble.



read the instructions and forms carefully and submit them as required, be sure to include photos of your property as well as the three comparables.

[snelson]

Our assessment finally went down this year (18%) but.....our assessor tells us that our taxes may not go lower because the gov't entities may ask for the same rate. How does that work???

I am tired of paying close to $10,000 a year for taxes without having the same services that the town next to us provides and their taxes are cheaper---we forgot to do our homework before we purchased our home!

[snaffle]

This is information I received a couple of years ago from a friend who had to appeal her taxes. And won!

My first piece of advice to anyone who is unhappy w/their assessment is to REMOVE YOUR EMOTION FROM THE PROCESS! The assessor’s office doesn’t care that you think (and you probably are) getting ripped off and they have over-assessed your property. Take a deep breath and go to the assessor’s office, give them your PIN and ask for a complete copy of your property tax card and aerial map on file. Get copies of property tax cards of other properties in your township, that are similar to yours (homes built approx. same year, other parcels approx. same size/same ’use’). It is important that you also receive the information the assessor has showing ‘their’ (as in the assessor’s) dimensions of your outbuildings, residence, features of your home/outbuildings (basement, fireplace, attached garage, type of heat, AC, type of floor/construction of outbuildings etc.) as well as a farmland valuation card and color coded aerial view of your property. This color coded aerial, will show amount of area and actual location of various soil types and different assessment classifications on your property (such as home site, permanent pasture, wasteland etc.). If your property is truly zoned AND assessed as ’ag’, as opposed to residential, the assessor will have this information. Now, clear your grey matter and scrutinize EVERY detail. Make sure that the dimensions ’they’ have are close to the actual figures because once you start, your assessor may remeasure and you don’t want to screw yourself if the actual measurements are substantially higher. Often, the information the assessor has, is derived from aerial shots and assumption (such as ’most’ homes have a basement, forced air heat, ’most’ structures are permanent, garage floors are concrete etc.).

Think about a ‘basis’ for your claim….again, I’m getting screwed doesn’t count, remove your emotions. Sometimes this ‘basis’ is as simple as incorrect information on your tax card (amount of property used as pasture, no attached garage, no basement, house on crawl, home is 1000 sq ft. not 1500 etc.). Just because your home has brick siding, doesn’t mean it’s a brick home (most homes today are stick built and then FACED w/brick). Also, remember, just because your home has an ‘upstairs’, doesn’t mean it is a 2 story home as far as the assessor is concerned. An ACTUAL 2nd story has to do w/roof pitch/where the eave of the roof intersects windows (I’d have to dig for the guidelines to back that claim). For God’s sake, don’t let emotion drive your flapping pie hole. If you and hubbykins (quite possibly w.o. a building permit Lips Sealed) turned your attic into a bedroom or finished your basement, added bathrooms or bedrooms without adding to the square footage of your home, SHUT UP! You do not have to allow the assessor into your home.

Go online and download a copy of 2002 Components and Cost Schedules of the Illinois Real Property Appraisal Manual (there may be a more recent one available, this is all I found@ the time) and Publication 122 Instructions for Farmland Assessments from the Illinois Dept. of Revenue website. The property section on that site, listing state statutes, is helpful as well. The information on the IDR website will help you to properly value your property and substantiate your claims. Think about the condition of the foundation of your home & concrete patios (any cracks in concrete or plaster). What has your property been used for in the past 2 years? Do you live in close proximity to an animal confinement facility (feedlots, dairy farms)? Do you have a recent appraisal of your property? Do recent sales in your area reflect a poor market? Ask to see the ‘green sheet‘ @ the assessor’s office showing recent sales. If you see this evidence, copy it and compare those parcels/homes to yours. Are you friendly with a local realtor? They can give you a copy of figures showing actual sales and property values in your area. Are there any creeks, ponds, wetlands (waterways, marshy areas etc), wooded areas on your property? What is the condition of the property adjoining any areas of water (eroded or cliff like)? These are just a handful of the types of things that adversely affect your assessment.

IMHO, the assessor’s office makes money because they make the task of filing an appeal a daunting one. Most people in my area work full time and do not have the time to make several trips to Dixon and do the research necessary to file a successful appeal. That office has led people to believe that, in order to appeal all the way to the state level you need an attorney (not true). I can’t tell you how many times I hear them tell some poor sod, ‘Well, if your assessed value, multiplied by 3, is lower than the value of your property you probably don’t have a claim.’ while I’m in that office. Again, NOT TRUE! Let them feed you their standard line of bullshit, smile and file your appeal all the way to the state level if you have to! I know there is way more, my fingers just won't go that fast and my mind is racing. Don't let the information or the task at hand discourage you...FIGHT! Fight w/your brain and concrete information, not your emotions.