Berkeley County Property Tax! (Summerville: assessor, mortgage, townhome)

[ptown434]

My property tax has gone up $300/month for a 1600 sqft townhome in Summerville, in the Summerwood subdivision. Has anybody else had a hike in property tax in Berkeley county? It has made such a huge impact on my budget, I'm thinking of selling it for a huge loss.

Please tell me what other people have done about this tax hike?

[DJShymansky]

$300 per month increase? Did you neglect to file your 4% rate adjustment after closing and are therefore now being assessed at 6%? That's the only thing I can think of that would cause such a huge disparity in annual property tax.

[beachme]

I would go talk to the assessor's office. They may have made a mistake or as DJ said did you file your rate assessment.

[SCDweller]

Definitely sounds like a mistake. Investigate what's going on...the assessor's office should point you in the right direction.
Foster

[kev4heels]

Just call them and tell them the situation...they did the same thing to me a few months ago. They will adjust it and send you a check for the difference. You can then send it to the mortgage company for adjustments. Just stay on them...if not, you never know when you will get it.

[fqtravlr]

Berkeley County used to be the lowest tax rate in the area. I once longed to move back, but that was before the County had to invest in expensive infrastucture mods to accomodate the areas like Daniel Island and Hwy 176. Of course, improvements aimed at attracting big business names like Google come with a price as well...
Yours may be an isolated case, as described above, but I think eventually you will possibly be seeing a result of these "modernization" efforts.

[ptown434]

Originally Posted by DJShymansky

$300 per month increase? Did you neglect to file your 4% rate adjustment after closing and are therefore now being assessed at 6%? That's the only thing I can think of that would cause such a huge disparity in annual property tax.

Thanks for the help guys, I am being charged the 6% rate. I called the assessor and they said that because its not my primary residence anymore, I am not entitled to the 4% rate or discounts anymore. Is there anything else I can do?

[DJShymansky]

Nope, if you bought it to use as an investment, then the 6% rate is proper (and you should have been made aware of this prior to purchase/closing). If you bought it as your residence, then later converted it to investment/rental, then the 6% is proper.

[Techgeek]

I actually had a lengthy battle that I won with the Berkeley County Assessors office last year.

Brief of the story:

-Couple that sold me the house bought it for $X in 2007 and shortsold it to me in 2009 for $Y (Y= X - 30,000)
-Pre-closing appraisal came in at $Z (Z = X - 17,000 or X + 13,000)
-County wanted to tax me at $X and was taxing me at the 6% even though I turned in my paperwork.

I sent a letter appealing the decision. They denied it.

I had several phone conversations both with my assessor and her boss the head of the department, he hung up on me on at least one occasion.

Sent in for an appeal in front of the appeals board. That got scheduled and I sent in all of my supporting paperwork and a letter explaining my whole case.

The day after they received all of that the original assessor contacted me to let me know that they had reviewed my case and agreed to tax me on the pre-sale appraisal amount.

Also turned in my 4% paperwork (again) and got the reduction there.

A couple of weeks later my mortgage holder got a refund check for almost $2000 from the overpayment and my monthly payment only went up $9 per month instead of $200.

Long story short: if you have a case, appeal it and don't let up on them. You will probably not get the 4% unless the home becomes your primary residence but if you are arguing the value of the home then by all means contact them and see what happens.

Edit: I spoke with the Real Property Office not the Assessors office. The department head there is Wilson Baggett.

Here is a link http://www.berkeleycountysc.gov/dept/realproperty/

[BillHun]

I'm new to this forum and glad I saw this.

I bought my house in 2011 and my property taxes have doubled. Unfortunately I was unaware that I may be eligible for this 4% tax. Anyone have any information that may be useful as I'm being taxed out of my home or rather my house payment has doubled in two years because of these taxes.