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Old 01-25-2013, 10:28 AM
 
22 posts, read 80,777 times
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In what circumstances can you grieve your taxes, how successful if the process? Do I need to hire a lawyer for it?
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Old 01-25-2013, 12:52 PM
 
1,082 posts, read 2,759,022 times
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Depends on the town. I've heard Huntington will usually work with a grievance but neighboring Smithtown routinely denies them, forcing the homeowner to property tax court.

The other option is to have your house re-appraised, assuming the property value is lower than the assessed amount. Submit the certified appraisal to the town assessor and see what they say. Again, if they don't lower the assessment, you may take the town to court.
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Old 01-25-2013, 01:05 PM
 
Location: under the beautiful Carolina blue
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You can grieve your taxes under any circumstances. No guarantee you'll win but you may as well try.
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Old 01-25-2013, 01:50 PM
 
903 posts, read 3,572,354 times
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We've used Mark Lewis before-they only take the case if they think they will win. Fill out the application-it cant hurt. A few years ago at our other house they took the town to court-they won us a $4000 deduction and we had to pay them 1/2. It was a lot but we got the benefit of the reduction for a few years ago until we moved. They just filed again for us and once again they have to take the town of hunt to court. We will pay them 1/2 of whatever they get reduced.
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Old 01-25-2013, 01:54 PM
 
Location: Long Island
9,531 posts, read 15,836,173 times
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There was an article on this in the local town paper. For Nassau, over 82% of those who file get approved and lowered. And 1/3 of Nassau owners do file (think it was 110k submissions). The thing is, only 11% of the submissions are done by homeowners themselves. The rest are done through agencies. They are the ones who are typically successful, because they do the appeals in court, etc.

When I filed personally, I got rejected and didn't take it further. They will do all of that for you. The cost is "35%-50% of the 1st year's savings". But what does that mean for the following years? Do they just not take any money but do the work still?

So I think I'm going with an agency, because in the end I still save. One thing to note is that if one gets lowered, the rest of the properties make up for it by paying more. The town is owed X amount (after the school votes - yay) and they need to get that amount in the end. So why not file. Deadline was extended to May.

Last edited by ovi8; 01-25-2013 at 02:09 PM..
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Old 01-25-2013, 02:08 PM
 
Location: Smithtown, NY
1,726 posts, read 4,025,290 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by amyla View Post
We've used Mark Lewis before-they only take the case if they think they will win. Fill out the application-it cant hurt. A few years ago at our other house they took the town to court-they won us a $4000 deduction and we had to pay them 1/2. It was a lot but we got the benefit of the reduction for a few years ago until we moved. They just filed again for us and once again they have to take the town of hunt to court. We will pay them 1/2 of whatever they get reduced.
Mark Lewis got us a $2500 reduction four years ago. They say we are due another reduction, so we signed with them again this year.
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Old 01-25-2013, 02:10 PM
 
Location: Long Island
9,531 posts, read 15,836,173 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nassau2suffolk View Post
Mark Lewis got us a $2500 reduction four years ago. They say we are due another reduction, so we signed with them again this year.
Same fee again? Do you get any relief if you've used them before? If there's no reduction you pay $0?

I'm reading their website and it shows a $75 appraisal fee if you do not supply a certified appraisal to them that's within the last year. How do you get a certified appraisal and how much is that?
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Old 01-25-2013, 03:40 PM
 
Location: Smithtown, NY
1,726 posts, read 4,025,290 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rh71 View Post
Same fee again? Do you get any relief if you've used them before? If there's no reduction you pay $0?

I'm reading their website and it shows a $75 appraisal fee if you do not supply a certified appraisal to them that's within the last year. How do you get a certified appraisal and how much is that?
They get half of the first year's reduction, no discount, no fee if you don't win. I have never been asked for or supplied an appraisal. No appraisal fee either but that may be new. I don't have time to undertake the process myself. It's money well spent in my opinion.
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Old 01-25-2013, 03:40 PM
 
Location: Islip,NY
20,894 posts, read 28,281,934 times
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If you don't have CO's for certain things then I guess you cannot greive them until you get CO's?
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Old 01-26-2013, 06:12 AM
 
Location: Kings Park & Jamesport
3,180 posts, read 10,518,373 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lubby View Post
If you don't have CO's for certain things then I guess you cannot greive them until you get CO's?
You can greive if you have missing CO's....has no bearing on the case.

I have done it both ways. When I just got married and had $0 money I greived all the way to tax hearing and won. Very cheap way to do it but takes alot of time. Now I have Mark Lewis review my taxes every year.
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