Property taxes (tax lien, assessor, new home)

[D.crombine]

I was wondering why property taxes in my neighborhood are not consistent. I know about the Homeowners Exemption and all the homes are owner-occupied except one. All the homes recieved an increase in valuation. Yet there are large differences in the amounts posted at the assessors web-site for total taxes for 2006. Does the amount shown reflect annual, bi-annual, or semi-annual billing? For example: 707 Opal Street's total tax for 2006 was 2,022.96, an increase of 716.66 from 2005. Yet 706 Opal Street's (house across the street) total tax for 2006 was 781.82, a decreas of 430.08. Any clarification would be appreciated. Thank you!

[CafeDelSol]

Maybe the increase was due to a new homeowner who didn't file for the exemption. Or it could be a tax lien. $2022 sounds way out of reason for that neighborhood.

I had a tax lien on the house I bought (repo) a few years ago that I didn't even know was on the house. I should have sued the title company that didn't bother to tell me about it. I had to go down to the courthouse in person and demand that the clerk get off her butt and do a search since nobody could come up with an explanation as to why I was paying double the taxes of my neighbors. They finally found out it was because the previous owner didn't bother to pay his utility bills for a year.

If the assessor does a drive-by assessment rather than a walk-through it can drastically affect the taxes. They just take their best guess with what they can see from the outside.