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How to lower your property taxes

Ever since the State stopped assuming that your only house is your primary residence, property tax bills shot up for everyone. Yes, if you have not declared the fact that your only residence is your primary residence ready yourself to cough up more in property taxes. The simple solution is to send in the Homestead Tax Credit Application or file an appeal.

This is turning up to be a new wave for tax assessors across the country to tackle. The figures are a deep matter of concern for the State itself. In other states in the country for example, The Wall Street Journal reported that in St. Tammany Parish, La., 15,000 residents — instead of the usual 500 — requested a review of their 2008 tax bills. Similarly the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that Cuyahoga County, which sees approximately 1,300 foreclosures a month, faced three times as many appeals in 2007 compared with previous tax cycles.

On the other hand, while prices of residential properties dipped to 27% from the 2006 peak to the end of 2008, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Index, while the amount municipalities collected in property taxes climbed to 12% from 2006 to 2008. These figures are a clear indication why more and more people are opting for re-assessment of their property taxes.

Of late, due to the dip in sales prices, the assessments on houses are higher for the sales price than they used to be earlier. The point here is that you possess the right to contest that your property needs to be re-assessed so that you eventually end up paying lesser taxes. For people who haven’t bought a property recently but have been staying in the same property since sometime now, the taxes soared with the incline of property rates too.

Your options:

Property owners can file through the Homestead Application requesting lowered property taxes. Appealing is a bit more complex process when compared to filing a homestead application. A board or panel needs to be convinced about your plight in a very convincing manner. Considering the fact that these boards see a hundred such cases a day make sure you sound genuine and fact-equipped while appealing before them. It is a good thought to survey a few properties around your own and review the sales figures. Bear in mind that these houses might be located differently, may have a different number of rooms and might have been recently renovated before assessing your own house in context to them.

Smart Steps

Gather information on who will be hearing your appeal. You can appeal your assessment any year. Even if you have already paid the taxes, do not worry they will refund it if your appeal goes through. Most municipalities allow a personal hearing. Make it a point to be there on time and draw some factual information about the properties around your own. If you are required to hire a tax attorney, try negotiating with the attorney for a lump sum fee rather than per hearing based structure. Many attorneys demand for a portion of your first years’ tax savings. This we know is a good proposition since it will start paying up the second year itself due to the lowered property tax bills.

The State reviews hundreds or probably thousands of such applications on a regular basis and you need to hit bulls-eye when your case comes up. Seek advice from neighbors or friends in your area who have beaten the same path for small tips to improve your proposition. Once done, happy tax savings are just at arms length.

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Lower Your Broward County Property Taxes

Purchasing a home is one of the biggest investments in time as well as money a person has to make during his life. One of the many annual costs a home owner has to pay is the property tax. These collected taxes go to schools, to the government as well as other local and federal programs but this doesn’t have to mean that you should pay or better said, overpay in order to be a good citizen.

The Broward Country property taxes can be reduced in a few ways. One of them is by getting an accurate assessment of the home’s value. Every year a tax assessor will come to your home and evaluate it with the single purpose of noticing the changes that might have occurred on the property ( home improvements, new constructions, restoration/deterioration ) as well as the surrounding properties. This tax assessor will also take into consideration the so-called “fair market value” of the homes that were recently sold in the new vicinity of your home, the estimated cost needed to replace your property and how much money would you get for selling/renting the house.

Don’t be confused as the Broward County property taxes are similar to other local taxes; take for example the Dade County property taxes or any other local governments from all over the country. With this article we just took a concrete example that can be generalized. Getting back to the purpose of the assessment, it isn’t all about raising your taxes but to get the true value of your home in comparison with the other homes in the area. After the value is determined, the annual property taxes will be a percentage of that established value.

If you want to get the most accurate assessment of your home you will need to be up to date with the market value of the homes in the area. To do so you should talk with your neighbors and find out what are their homes valued at and also, how much taxes do they pay every year. You should also have a word with the local realtors to find out at what prices homes are sold in your areas.

You also have the option to use the services of a company that will help you lower your property taxes regardless you pay Dade County property taxes or you live in a different place. If you feel that you are being “robbed” by your local authorities, these companies will prepare all the necessary paperwork to file an appeal and help you save some money that in a normal situation you wouldn’t have to pay. As a plus, if you have the time, you can protest these tax rates at their source: the organizations that create these taxes. You could go to county meetings, school board meetings or other committee meetings that establish the tax rate in your county.

To sum it all up, there are a couple of things you could do in order to reduce your property taxes. We recommend a solid file if you want to make an appeal that is why we recommend using the services of professional that deal with these kinds of problems.

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There are a few ways for taxpayers to help keep property taxes lower. The first way is to attend public meeting where decisions are being made about spending limits and spending in general. If you do not participate in meeting that is open to the public for suggestions and opinions, you cannot blame anyone for higher property taxes. If the community spending committee we will call them wants to raise taxes so they can afford to give aldermen and government officials a raise in salary, then no one will be at the meeting to voice their opinion and make people think.

If a committee is interested in buying land from a property owner and it is a substantial amount of money that will require an increase in property taxes, you might use a petition to request a vote when the next election is scheduled. This is done in many states and communities. This allows the voters who are tax-paying citizens to vote for or against the proposal. All spending should be done this way. That way everyone in the community has a say or a vote if you may on whether or not this type of spending is necessary.

Another way to avoid higher property taxes is to organize fundraisers for things that are needed for schools. If the school district is asking for more money, which could raise property taxes, you might suggest ways for the entire school system to raise the money needed and enjoy in a sense of accomplishment. Not only is this a great way for raising money for the cause, but also gives students and teachers a new way to work together and learn values. This has been tried and accomplished in many communities with great success. Those communities have lower property taxes as well.

There could be a committee for school fundraisers, fire and police fundraisers, a committee for nursing home fundraisers and even a fundraising committee for the library and historical museums. The community does come together when a fundraiser not only helps the cause but also keeps there property taxes down. People are spending money, are receiving something in return, instead of handing over their money and receiving nothing in return for the most part. This type of community involvement does have its benefits, people enjoy the fundraising event and the community makes some money that is needed for whatever reason.

These are just some of the ways that property owners can help to keep property taxes lower. There are many more ways that people can contribute, they just have to think about how much they really want to help the community keep the taxes lower and organize ways to raise money or at least ask for votes on spending and district increases before the committee approves them. When people want to have lower property taxes anything is possible and when the community leaders are behind you, everyone wins. You just need to look for positive ways to lower the property taxes and speak up at public events that are held in the community.