2011 Assessment just arrived on our house (mortgage, loan, lawyer)

[Gunner0325]

Hi Everyone,

I know this is a gray area of discussion, but we just moved in our house in February and just received our assessment in the mail. It says our home's market value has decreased from 309K to 259K. We are new homeowners so we don't really know what to do with this information? It says we have till mid Sept. to appeal. Should our property taxes go down because of this (haha I know) Should we appeal? Seems like a drastic drop, and just not sure if we are supposed to do anything about it....I went to cookcountyassessor.com but it is very confusing...any thoughts or comments?

[sunnyandcloudydays]

Originally Posted by Gunner0325

Hi Everyone,

I know this is a gray area of discussion, but we just moved in our house in February and just received our assessment in the mail. It says our home's market value has decreased from 309K to 259K. We are new homeowners so we don't really know what to do with this information? It says we have till mid Sept. to appeal. Should our property taxes go down because of this (haha I know) Should we appeal? Seems like a drastic drop, and just not sure if we are supposed to do anything about it....I went to cookcountyassessor.com but it is very confusing...any thoughts or comments?

Not a tax expert but if it went down who cares , just let it be
usually people appeal for a rise in the accessed value
dont let your pride get in the way of something that can benefit you greatly

[Gunner0325]

Originally Posted by sunnyandcloudydays

Not a tax expert but if it went down who cares , just let it be
usually people appeal for a rise in the accessed value
dont let your pride get in the way of something that can benefit you greatly

I am certainly not worried about my pride, just wondering if my property taxes should go DOWN because of the decrease in value. That is my main question I guess and if I need to do anything about it

[chet everett]

Odds are that a drop of more than 10% of assessed value will result a nice drop in tax.

Of course if the OTHER homes in your taxing districts (municipality, parks, schools, mosquito abatement, water reclamation, etc etc etc...) also decreased by MORE than 10% than the TOTAL RATE can increase and your bill might go up.

The politicians design it to be complex so that you (or more likely owners of big expensive buildings / shoppping centers...) have to hire THIER LAW FIRMS to have a complicated appeal filed.

THANK YOU MIKE MADIGAN!

[Gunner0325]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Odds are that a drop of more than 10% of assessed value will result a nice drop in tax.

Of course if the OTHER homes in your taxing districts (municipality, parks, schools, mosquito abatement, water reclamation, etc etc etc...) also decreased by MORE than 10% than the TOTAL RATE can increase and your bill might go up.

The politicians design it to be complex so that you (or more likely owners of big expensive buildings / shoppping centers...) have to hire THIER LAW FIRMS to have a complicated appeal filed.

THANK YOU MIKE MADIGAN!

Thanks Chet, would my taxes go down automatically? (assuming that everything else didn't drop 10%) Or is there something I need to do for that to happen?

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by Gunner0325

Thanks Chet, would my taxes go down automatically? (assuming that everything else didn't drop 10%) Or is there something I need to do for that to happen?

You don't need to do anything.

Timing wise the taxes you are currently paying are for the 2010 tax cycle, so the new cycle won't kick in for a while. In fact the actual rates won't be set until next spring.

If the rates don't rocket up AND YOU PAY TAXES WITH MORTGAGE into an escrow account you MIGHT want to check with the lender / loan processing firm to see if they can "dial down" the amount you pay each month to leave a little more cash in your pocket, but be careful, if they reduce your escrow too much when the semi-annual tax bills are due they will ask for a big check to cover the shortfall...

[Gunner0325]

Originally Posted by chet everett

You don't need to do anything.

Timing wise the taxes you are currently paying are for the 2010 tax cycle, so the new cycle won't kick in for a while. In fact the actual rates won't be set until next spring.

If the rates don't rocket up AND YOU PAY TAXES WITH MORTGAGE into an escrow account you MIGHT want to check with the lender / loan processing firm to see if they can "dial down" the amount you pay each month to leave a little more cash in your pocket, but be careful, if they reduce your escrow too much when the semi-annual tax bills are due they will ask for a big check to cover the shortfall...

EXCELLENT....thank you very much for that information Chet! Exactly what I was after....thanks!

[ToriaT]

everybody is pretty much in the same boat with the value of their homes going down. I would bet the taxes dont go down, or at least go down very slowly. I would do nothing at this point.

[Gunner0325]

Originally Posted by ToriaT

everybody is pretty much in the same boat with the value of their homes going down. I would bet the taxes dont go down, or at least go down very slowly. I would do nothing at this point.

I would be very surprised if they went down myself...as long as they don't go up I will be happy, but I am not counting on that..!

[Gunner0325]

I wanted to re-hash this if people don't mind...Is it worth hiring a lawyer to appeal my property tax? I got a letter in the mail from one, that only receives money if the appeal goes through and gets lowered. But he keeps a % of the first years tax savings. Other then that there is only a minimal fee for his services. Has anyone ever used a lawyer and was it worth it? Our assessment on our house went WAY down (like everyone's) and it only makes sense that our taxes SHOULD go down. If a lawyer can help make that happen wouldn't it be worth it?