How To Lower Your Property Taxes
If you have no desire to sell your home, you might be interested in finding out how to lower your property taxes. Anybody who has been following the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog for any period of time can tell you that property values in Tallahassee have fallen as much as 25% in some areas, but what about property tax assessments?
Fortunately for citizens of Leon County, the property tax appraisers office has produced a video on how to lower your property taxes. It takes less than ten minutes to view, and by understanding its contents, you could save hundreds or even thousands of dollars per year. I strongly recommend viewing this video.
Video On How To Lower Your Property Taxes
Summary Of How To Lower Your Property Taxes
You should never assume that the Leon County Property Appraiser has correctly reviewed the value of your property. Much like any public or private office, they have a lot of work to do and limited resources to get the work done. If you have watched the video on how to lower your property taxes, then you know you should follow these steps to ensure that you are being taxed fairly.
- Review you property tax assessment record online by visiting the Leon County Property Appraiser. After reviewing your own, you should check and see how the rest of your neighborhood has been assessed. It is quite possible that many newer home sales will be assessed below yours.
- Ensure that you verify the details in your assessment. A big key in understanding how to lower your property taxes is making sure that you agree with the tax appraisers description of your property. Make sure the measured size is correct (both the structure and the land). This is very easy for an over-worked staff member to make an error in measuring or recording the information, so it makes sense for you to confirm this important information.
- If you feel that your assessment is out of line with the rest of your Tallahassee neighborhood, check with your family REALTOR® to see if she/he agrees with your assessment.
- Call the Leon County Property Appraiser (850-488-6102) and ask them to review your property appraisal. If you have important information that might affect their opinion, don't be afraid to visit them in person.
The feedback that I have received from customers is that their office and staff have been very reasonable and easy to work with. Remember, now that you know how to lower your property taxes, all you have to do is a little homework to see if you can save money on your annual property tax bill.
Great Tallahassee Real Estate Resources
Do you want to know more about the Tallahassee real estate market? The following are some of the best resources that you can find on Tallahassee real estate:
- Daily Real Estate Blog (A Technorati Top 100): Tallahassee Real Estate Blog
- Current Housing Reports: Housing Market Reports
- Map Based Property Search Tool: MLS Property Search
- List of Distressed Properties in the MLS: Distressed Properties
- A Smarter Way To Buy A Home: HBFSP e-Course
Discussion
Thank you Tax Club, I'm betting that as many home-owners find themselves upside down in their homes, they will want to make sure that the county tax appraiser agrees!
County Assessors usually have no problem raising property taxes each year especially when home values are increasing... This is a great article to help people fight for what is fair.
You wonder how they didn't reduce debt and create reserves when property values doubled in just 7 years....
Joe, I realize this is an old post, but it does contain good information. It could make for a good update, especially for people considering purchasing a 'distressed sale' house, if you've not already posted on this. I've explained to many of my friends how the tax appraiser will not value a short sale or foreclosure based on the purchase price.
This problem actually got me when I purchased a house that the property appraiser deemed a distressed sale due to a divorce. It was not disclosed to me at all. I purchased my home for $219k and the market value they used was $295k! I had the appraiser come over and he got my market value down to $245k, but still above where I purchased it...
Thank you Joe Manausa for this information.
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