There might be so many spending holes which can be in the budget & how to actually plug them. Here is one more way to waste your money to include in the list: overpaying on property taxes.
There are 60 percent of the assets in America that are assessed quite high even than the current value. This is revealed by the National Taxpayers Union. That is just due to local governments. assess assets, on average, one time after every 2 to 3 years. As the home values could fall much over the period of time. Hence, in case the value of your property has not been actually assessed since this tumbled then you are surely overpaying on property taxes.
Plus, you do not need to keep wasting your money away, although. Also, you could appeal the property tax assessment. There are different websites which could help you out. There are 3 websites for finding the comparable properties that are in the area which have been sold for below that amount at which the property is actually valued and give different levels of assistance with the appealing process.
ValueAppeal.com:
For 99 dollars, you will find whether you are overpaying on property taxes & how much can you save via appealing. And, you can also get the property valuation that usually relies on the similar data that the county actually uses for the assessments.
There is the list of 10 comparable properties, the customized appealing report in order to mail to the appeals board & access to the tool which analyzes your comparable properties of the property assessor to tell that they support unfairly a high value for the home. You would also get your capital back in case the appeal gets rejected. However, ValueAppeal.com has currently expanded this service nationwide; there’re a few rural areas which are not actually covered.
EasyTaxFix.com:
For 79.95 dollars, you get 3 comparable properties (along with an option to choose the other ones in case you think that they nicely reflect the property's value), the completed appealing form, valuation document & instructions about how to go further. You would get your capital back in case you do not win the appeal. Though, the website just covers New Jersey & choose counties or cities in New York, Florida, and California. But this would be actually expanding coverage in New York, Florida, and California this year, according to Adam Berkson who is president at EasyTaxFix.com.
LowerMyAssessment.com:
You could see the assessed value of your property & the market value that is cost-free. For 39.95 dollars, the primary package gives sales data that is comparable. The package is also available to the property owners in fifty states (however data are not available for a few rural areas). For 79.95 dollars, deluxe package also includes full appeal forms along with the sales data (it is only in eleven states). For 299.95 dollars, premier package offers the appraisal by the licensed appraiser, with the appeal forms & comparable properties.
Plus, the Personal Finance magazine has revealed that by hiring some expert real estate or property appraiser who would take a complete look at the property gives a strong evidence of its worth. However, you need to check whether the community typically permits outside the appraisals in some appeal before getting one. You could also find the certified appraisers via National Association of Independent Fee Appraisers or Appraisal Institute.
The magazine cautions for using the law firms and some other services which actually offer to help you with the appeals in return for the higher % of the savings on the bill. Quite often, the residential homeowners also could go through a process. Also, you could have more info regarding appealing the property tax bills from a professional tax preparer.
Plus, during your appeal process, you’ve got some burden of revealing that the value is very much low as compared to what your town has already on record. Also, you do not need to hire an accountant or a tax preparer – just come to appeal with the documents and pictures that support your claim. In case your property has some kind of damage or requires some maintenance then you must have pictures on hand.
