On many occasions property owners are over taxed and don't realize it. Here is how to check if you are being treated unfairly.
Step 1: Seek out 5 homes in your neighbourhood or within your city that are similiar to yours in age, sq footage and quality. Write down the addresses.
Step 2: Each year the assessment roll in your municipality is available to taxpayers to view for a one month period. This is usually right after getting your tax notice. Go and examine the homes that are similiar to yours and their assessment values should be very close to yours. If the similiar properties are valued lower than yours, proceed to request property profiles of the similiar properties from your property assessment agency.
Step 3: Using the property profiles contact the assesssment department and tell them you want to speak with someone about lower your property assessment. Refer back to the similiar properties you viewed, when discussing the matter. The assessment department will be agreeable to a change if you have done your home work, as they don't want to spend money fighting too many battles.
Step 4: You can appeal the issue, and have it heard before an independent third party board, but remember that you can only appeal that you are not being treated the same as other similiar homes. Again, You cannot appeal the value of your property, you can only appeal the relativeness of your property value to other similiar properties. The system is supposed to treat all similiar properties the same.
I would say that 8 times out of ten you will be successful in lowering your property assessment and saving yourself $1000 of dollars over the years. .
