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I just got a letter in the mail that an appraiser has been contracted to do a revaluation of the entire town. I know that I'm within my rights to not permit a strange person sent by the government to come into my home and poke around, but I'm wondering if this will have a negative effect on my property taxes in the end. I'd like to hear from others who have gone through this process, whether or not they allowed the appraisers in, and what the end result was (tax hike, status quo, etc...)? What I'm wondering is, at the end of this process, does the town sit down with a list of everyone who refused entry to the appraiser and simply jack up their estimate to the maximum amount? Kind of like in the old days on the Turnpike where if you lost your ticket they would charge you the maximum toll as if you had traveled the entire length of the roadway?
Also, I'm curious as to how many people actually let these folks into their homes? I can't imagine that many people would, but I suppose I could be wrong. I'm sure that some will accuse me of being a tin foil hat wearing anti-government type as a result of this post, but the truth couldn't be farther from that. I'm a government employee myself as is my wife, but privacy is privacy.
We're in the late stages of revaluation (expecting new figures for 2015 tax year). The town/police was proactive in notifying the residents to only let in such and such people with specific IDs into our homes.
Not sure about the ramifications of not letting them in but I was outside doing yard work when the appraiser came so I just let him in. He showed me proper documentation, ID etc. and told me I'm the only person on the block that's home. He glanced inside the house for literally 10-20 seconds (no exaggeration). Didn't go upstairs, not to the basement, kitchen, bathrooms nada. He stood in the living room, looked around and that was it.
This is how it went for me:
Appraiser: "this is a 3 bedroom house right?" - (shows me house specifics on piece of paper)
Me: "no it's a 4 bedroom"
Appraiser: "trust me, you want it to be 3 bedrooms"
Me: "ok, it's a 3 bedroom"
Appraiser: "all set, take care"
According to my town's revaluation Q&A, if a field inspector can't inspect your home, it's possible that an excessive assessment may result. The law provides that a property shall be assessed at the highest possible value if the assessor is denied entry.
What happens if property owner denies access to home or does not call to schedule an interior inspection?
"The appraiser determining value must assume that the basement is fully finished as living area, the interior has been completely remodeled, all possible ammenities have been added and all areas (attics, basements, lofts) have been improved.
May be in your best interest to suck it up and let these guys in.
I wasn't home when the assessor went through last June.
He automatically wrote my home up with finished basement.
I don't have one.
You'll want to have the assessor get it right.
If you're really afraid to let a "stranger" in your home than ask a neighbor to come over & keep you company while they do the inspection.
What does fear have to do with privacy? I don't have a Facebook page or a Twitter account and I generally keep to myself. The town that I live in is the only personal information I've ever posted on this site. The idea of my town government telling me that I should let some agent of theirs into my family's home because they say so does not sit well with me. Of course I also don't believe that the NSA should be collecting metadata on Americans and that the government should not be utilizing drones on American soil either, but I guess that puts me in the minority. I guess I'll have to choose between my wallet and my privacy. It would be foolish to invite a major tax hike by allowing the town to assess my home the maximum tax penalty by default, but that means allowing them to violate my privacy
It would be foolish to invite a major tax hike by allowing the town to assess my home the maximum tax penalty by default, but that means allowing them to violate my privacy
In principle, I agree with your interest in the principle of privacy.
In practice, I agree that you are being foolish.
Unless you are operating a hydroponic marijuana growing system, or harboring illegal aliens, or running some other type of illicit operation, you really have nothing of a concrete nature to lose--except possibly a lot of dollars, courtesy of a higher valuation--by allowing this person to take a very quick look at the inside of your home.
Almost all of my neighbors have finished basements and in-ground pools.
I have neither.
If I refused to allow the inspector to look at my property, all I would have done would be to invite a valuation similar to that of my neighbors.
Why would I want to do that?
IMHO--Standing on principle and refusing to permit this cursory look-around would pretty much define the term, "Winning the battle, but losing the war".
Last edited by Retriever; 07-16-2014 at 04:44 PM..
We had the revaluation done a number of years ago. The inspector came in- looked at the basement-it's not finished, and I think just confirmed (asked me) the number of bedrooms and bathrooms. The main thing was the basement.
After we got the new assessment, I went down to the town to see how they arrived at it. In our town, they take the sq footage, # of rooms, # bdrms, # bathrooms. Whether the kitchen and baths were 1960 or 2013 was not a factor. They were looking strictly at non-subjective factors.
I let the guy in and my taxes went up anyway. I suppose they could have gone up more.
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