[Bydand]

I have ever right to post what is happening in my town. I wasn't dissing the poster, just stating that continued hammering on the same exact thing does nothing. They posted what to do, and the steps to follow, which is great. But to continue to P&M doesn't make it seem more believable, just annoying.

What is happening in my town, and my commenting on it doe NOT make me any more a "bully" that the repeated bitching about how bad it is in your town and how it must apply to the whole State. I am not trying to stop somebody from posting valuable information, you have to learn how to do more than read words, but also how to comprehend what is actually being said with those words.

Post all the information wanted, I don't give a rats arse. There is a difference between a whiny rant and information though. Weed out the whining, and there is good information there, I never said there wasn't.

Originally Posted by preferentialtreatment

Well people read Bydand`s post carefully.

You should take your own advice here and actually read my posts carefully. Not only on this particular thread, but on the many other ones I have posted on over the years here. I welcome information, I encourage information; I also tend to get a bit short with wining and crying over things that cannot be addressed or fixed over the internet, and always say to get off the internet and go FIX the problem instead of crying about it, and if it can't be fixed, then look at moving on to where they will be happy.

[tremaine]

Originally Posted by zthatzmanz28

Our house in Redford / Detroit was assessed at 130K SEV=65K just 3 years ago. Started at 45K when we bought the house in 2003. WAs dropped 15% to SEV=51K just this April..Similar Houses on our street and neighborhood sell for 40K-60K after MONTHS on the market. Same ones Would have sold for 100K-120K 5 years ago. We can't even sell for what we owe let alone for what the SEV claims it is worth.

Do I feel cheated? HELL no...I just suck it up and accept it as my patriotic duty so thats others in the 250K and up domain don't have to pay as much taxes so they have more to reinvest in the state's infrastructure and create much sought after jobs.

Very interesting data. So your assessor is claiming your market value is 102,000, but it is no higher than 60,000. So technically, you are over paying by $600-$1,500 a year (depending on your rates).

My understanding is that all you or I have to do is:

(a) Get a realtor or an appraiser (the realtor would probably be both cheaper and more on point) to give a professional opinion of what the property would sell for. Two realtors would I bet totally guarantee ultimate success.

(b) Go to your local property tax "board of review" meeting with the evaluation(s) and request the adjustment.

(c) If the adjustment is denied, and don't be surprised if it is, it's on to this venue: [URL]http://www.michigan.gov/taxtrib[/URL] My understanding is that it holds hearings in most counties. And you may not even have to go to a hearing. The appraiser guy I talked to says that more and more "over rulings of the assessors" via tribunal actions are taking place with "phone hearings".

The tribunal is obviously well aware of the imperfections of the system, so this is where a smart tax payer (going bananas in this recession/depression) can go to get things right in a hurry.

[YAZ]

Remember when we voted to raise the sales tax to 6%?

Wasn't there some kind of provision that didn't allow our property taxes to go up a certain amount?

It was a funky thing....it only applied to EXISTING homes, but if you were to purchase a home after the law was passed, no holds barred on the property tax increases.



1996?

Since then, MI property taxes have been real stupid.

[magellan]

Originally Posted by tremaine

I'm just trying to confirm something that I have pretty much concluded is a real problem in Michigan. The local property assessors do not follow the Michigan Constitution, which says that the property valuations used for property tax have to be based on estimates of market value.

It seems that the assessors do NOT really care what the market value of your property is. They set their valuations based on things other than market value. The assessors, when they seemingly choose values out of thin air, use various rationalizations. Their real objective, especially in a down economy, is not to follow the Constitution, but to make sure that the tax collected is adequate to keep the local government going the way they want it to.

In a down economy, market valuations are stagnant or falling, but the local assessor is probably jacking up the value of your property due to the continuing need for tax money. In fact, they need more money from property tax if income tax is down due to rising unemployment.

If a property owner wants to reduce his property tax down to about what it should be, he or she has to appeal first locally and then often he or she will have to file an appeal with the Michigan Tax Tribunal.

Can anyone confirm any or all of this knowlege I think I have? In other words, if you live in Michigan, is your assessed valuation higher than what you could sell your property for?

How it works technically is that SEV = state equalized value, which is supposed to be about 1/2 of what you could sell your property for. Taxable value may be different from SEV; it is the SEV that the MI Constitution applies to. So figure 2 times your latest SEV and compare that to what you could sell your property for. If 2 times your SEV is greater than what you could sell your property for, you are being cheated by some amount.

Are you being cheated and, if so, by how much?

No, our assessments have been coming down. And I know quite a few people who have successfully appealed their assessments and had them lowered. Go to your municipality and find out what you need to do.

edit: I see you already know what to do.

[magellan]

Originally Posted by preferentialtreatment

Well people read Bydand`s post carefully.Bydand you have no right to degrade anybody and the fact that you mentioned that your small town has no problems makes you a voluntary bully.People are posting valuable information here and are discussing this problem to get a solution.You can not stop people from voicing their opinions on a subject matter.You might be a retired goverment employee or whatever convenes you,but have no right to diss others.
Tremaine you have nailed the issue very well and our experience has been the same.Michigan Tax Tribunal forces the local administration to correct their abusive decisions,but they too will try to get away with what they can.The local administration employees confused us in the process and bought enough precious time to consider our complaint invalid.Therefore, we missed the appealing timeline which is the single most crucial act on correcting the abusive practice perpetrated by the local administration.Furthermore,they have told us repeateadly to appeal every year.Is this rational? They know our problems from previous years as they do know the house itself.Furthermore,their assesor`s figures are higher by at least 100% compared to the true market value.Furthermore,if online is not the place to discuss this as someone wants to dictate,where is?Furthermore,this site is listed as a forum and as one should be one.Thank you.

Everyone, let's get back to talking about the issue and not attacking other forumers.

[Blue Grass Fever]

Originally Posted by tremaine

I'm just trying to confirm something that I have pretty much concluded is a real problem in Michigan. The local property assessors do not follow the Michigan Constitution, which says that the property valuations used for property tax have to be based on estimates of market value.

It seems that the assessors do NOT really care what the market value of your property is. They set their valuations based on things other than market value. The assessors, when they seemingly choose values out of thin air, use various rationalizations. Their real objective, especially in a down economy, is not to follow the Constitution, but to make sure that the tax collected is adequate to keep the local government going the way they want it to.

In a down economy, market valuations are stagnant or falling, but the local assessor is probably jacking up the value of your property due to the continuing need for tax money. In fact, they need more money from property tax if income tax is down due to rising unemployment.

If a property owner wants to reduce his property tax down to about what it should be, he or she has to appeal first locally and then often he or she will have to file an appeal with the Michigan Tax Tribunal.

Can anyone confirm any or all of this knowlege I think I have? In other words, if you live in Michigan, is your assessed valuation higher than what you could sell your property for?

How it works technically is that SEV = state equalized value, which is supposed to be about 1/2 of what you could sell your property for. Taxable value may be different from SEV; it is the SEV that the MI Constitution applies to. So figure 2 times your latest SEV and compare that to what you could sell your property for. If 2 times your SEV is greater than what you could sell your property for, you are being cheated by some amount.

Are you being cheated and, if so, by how much?

Yeah, i've been "cheated", if you want to call it that.

I've dropped my assessment down almost 30,000k. Lots of mistakes on my tax worksheet, plus dealing with a slippery township assessor doesn't make matters easier.....

[Blue Grass Fever]

Originally Posted by preferentialtreatment

The local administration employees confused us in the process and bought enough precious time to consider our complaint invalid.

I know, my local assessor was doing the same, beating around the bush with the matter.

Be persistent, study hard and prepare to have a "verbal joust".

[preferentialtreatment]

Originally Posted by magellan

Everyone, let's get back to talking about the issue and not attacking other forumers.

Quoted the wrong person.

[preferentialtreatment]

It is ironic though because the directive comes from above and not from below.Honestly,there is some attitude problems on the part of city employees too.One engineer told me to go ahead and call the cops anyways.My driveway was blocked from construction vehicles.Last time it was, my dad got into an accident with the construction vehicles as soon as he exited the driveway.Also the desk people who deal with taxes give you the run around.They are way too cold and i wish someone could tell me if there is any remedy to their outrageous behaviour.
Finally,i find everything that everyone writes here to be true.
PS:Could it be that the city wants to waste our time or annoy us out to get what it wants?It more than seems so.

[magellan]

Originally Posted by preferentialtreatment

Quoted the wrong person.

It's directed at everyone in this thread. And stop throwing around the word "right". Your ability to post on this forum is a "privilege", not a right. Capiche?