Learning something new

Add comment January 8th, 2008

I finally had my hearing on my 2007 property tax assessment.

Going in I was pretty confident. I had a friend put together a newspaper style graphic on why I felt our house was being overassessed. But during the hearing I learned that the assessment is what your house is worth on Jan. 1 of that year. In this case, we were arguing about what my property was worth on Jan. 1, 2007.

Now if you’ve paid any attention to real estate, on Jan. 1, 2007 we were coming off five straight record years in real estate. Sales, and more importantly average sales prices, were soaring.

So by the rules I couldn’t really argue that the declining or flat prices of 2007 meant my house was being overassessed. The only thing I ended up arguing is that they were overvaluing the fact I live on a double lot because the land is in a flood plane. I can’t build on it and I can’t sell it.

They board of review will decide my case Friday and it’s open to the public. I’m going to sit in on it, but I’m not confident.

One thing I’m always trying to do is learn more about real estate and get more input from the public so if you are reading this and do not work at the Register Star, email me at agary@rrstar.com and I will take you out to lunch at one of our downtown restaurants.