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I wanted to know any stories that people that have saved money. I pay 12K for Smithtown and my house was assessed at 750K.I bought this home for 655K last year. I'm curious whats going to happen. What is your tax grievance success story.
I can't respond with a success story, but I can tell you one thing abour grievances. It's a big marketing point when selling a house on LI. I didn't understand what it meant when I first started shopping for a LI house. But, I've come to understand that as fair market values continue to decline on LI properties, the taxes do not automatically fall too. They must be grieved and I've looked at several homes that were successful in lowering the tax to be in line with the new, lower value of the home.
It is an incentive to look at the home if the grievance process has already be done or at least started. I believe it can take up to a year to get the home and taxes reassessed.
Hi, I used Mark Lewis & won. I filled out his application that I printed from his website, faxed it to his office, got a postcard a few weeks later saying my case would be taken on by him ( he notifies you if he doesn't think he'll win, you only pay if he does), I got the letter in December saying we won. Our taxes were reduced by over $1300. We paid him a one time fee of $766, that included an appraisal but nobody ever entered my home. Our taxes were nearly $8,000 in Brookhaven before STAR & the greivance.
I'm in the process with Mark Lewis now. I did it myself 12 years ago and won a $1500 reduction which was great. The nice thing is that you benefit from this every year by lowering your house price. In reality, it is not a very accurate way to collect taxes.
Got my letter from the assessment board today. They reduced my assessment from 2,900 to 2,625 (about a 10% reduction) I estimate this will reduce my taxes by about $900 a year. Not bad.
I may still attempt to see Judicial Review...because even at 2625...my house is overassessed by about 20% based on...
Old assessment...2900 = $420,000...this was the figure given to me by the assessor.
Using the same ratio (multiply by 145)
New assessment...2625 = $380,000.
I'd be laughed out of the realtors office if I went in and said I wanted to list my house for 380K. I paid 275K in Jan...and that was after the house had been on the market for 9 months. The appraisal done in Nov 2007 was 300K.
When I filed my grievance...the clerk who helped me with the paperwork said I wold be requesting a reduction from the 2900 to 1950.
I need to clarify this with the assessor...but can anyone tell me if asking for about a 33% reduction...and getting about 10% is typical? Is there a "typical" grievance??
The judicial review is $30 and a day at court. I figure I can't go wrong trying right?
I'm curious to know whether the success stories were for older or original-condition homes, or for homes that have been updated or maybe had things added. I always thought that a house in 'average' condition would have more luck than one that had been updated or had things like a pool or a deck added. For instance if there are 2 of the same model of house on the same street and both have a pool but one of them is all original everything from 1975 and the other updated their kitchen, baths, windows, siding, roof etc two years ago but both are paying, say $15,000 in taxes .... wouldn't the original-condition house be more likely to greive successfully than the fancier updated one?
It seems like everyone is jumping on the greivance bandwagon lately, so it would be helpful to know which kind of houses have the best shot at getting a reduction!
Anyone know of any good service to user in Nassau? Does Mark Lewis only service Suffolk co.?
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More Tax Grievance Success Stories Wanted!!
