Anatolia Property Tax Appeals » Property Values in Rancho Cordova

Are you keeping money in your pockets or paying $500 too much in property taxes?

Anatolia Tax Appeal — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 19:15:46 +0000

At some point around May 2009 the Sacramento County Assessor’s Office should be mailing a letter to certain households stating that the Assessor has lowered the assessed value on particular homes (if they determined that value declined).

Here is the scenario: You purchased your home in Anatolia in Rancho Cordova for $550,000 in 2005 and so you were paying about $6,000 in property tax based upon 1.25% (the maximum percentage in CA). The assessed value of your home was based upon the purchase price which was assumed to be fair market value at the time of sale. Your home has since declined in value over time and the Assessor says your home is now worth $450,000. Thankfully your current taxes get bumped down then to around $5,500 based on the adjusted assessment at $450,000.

This is wonderful news, right? You are happy to save five hundred dollars and the Assessor looks really good too in light of gaining a ton of positive publicity in the media because he has “lowered property taxes”. This should be great cause for celebration, but the only problem is that your home is actually worth somewhere between $375,000 and $400,000 rather than $450,000. In effect, this means that you are paying for $50,000-$75,000 of value that you don’t actually have. In essence, this comes out to paying $500 to $750 out of your pocket each year that you should not have to pay.

This is only a mild scenario. There are home owners in Anatolia and other niches in Sacramento County that are paying way more than $500 too much each year because the assessment is off by $100,000-$400,000.

Think about your property tax assessment this way:

Assessed Value $25,000 too high = you overpay by $250 per year
Assessed Value $50,000 too high = you overpay by $500 per year
Assessed Value $100,000 too high = you overpay by $1,000 per year
Assessed Value $150,000 too high = you overpay by $1,500 per year
Assessed Value $200,000 too high = you overpay by $2,000 per year

What are your options?

1) Do nothing. Surprisingly, this is often an option that many people choose because appealing property taxes is unfamiliar turf that people sometimes just don’t know how to handle. Or life is busy and this whole process seems like a pain to deal with. But are you comfortable paying even $50 extra per month to the County? What else could you be doing with that extra $500 each year?

2) Pay a minimal fee to me to handle the entire situation for you. I can do all the research, stand before the appeals board on your behalf, make charts and graphs, assess neighborhood trends, and put together convincing evidence for a lowered opinion of value – a true reflection of the real estate market. You have a potential to save a great deal of money each year.

Taxes are a part of life and there is no escaping them, but we don’t want to pay a penny more than we have to. Make sure that you are keeping your hard-earned money in your pockets by paying your fair share of property tax and no more. Please contact us at 916-595-3735 or info@AnatoliaTaxAppeal.com for any details.

http://www.AnatoliaTaxAppeal.com Letter from the Assessor vs. Your Potential Savings: $50,000 too high = you pay $500 too much each year in property taxes

Did the Assessor’s Office Get Your Value Right?

Anatolia Tax Appeal — Tue, 05 May 2009 21:25:17 +0000

One of the big factors in property tax appeals is that the best available data from the local market should be applied on your behalf. This is an elementary valuation concept, but often times the reason why your property taxes are too high is because the mass-appraisal process instituted by the Assessor’s Office fails to incorporate the most reliable data for your household. In essence, your home ends up being compared to dissimilar houses or outdated market trends, which leads to a large discrepancy in value (and then your wallet hurts). Additionally, many residents wonder too if the Assessor’s Office is feeling the pressure of dwindling funds in Sacramento County and if that has a way of influencing assessed values.

The most similar houses on your street, immediate tract, and surrounding area in Anatolia should be given strong weight when rendering a legitimate opinion of value. The overall trends in the real estate market and perception among local buyers too plays an enormous role in your property’s worth. Additionally, there are external factors such as the state of the economy, available financing and job security that also factor into the equation. There is not just one point of data to consider when determining what your property is worth, but a plethora of market research (as opposed to picking the highest sales in the market and comparing them to your property).

There are often reasons why your house may not compare with the highest sale in the market anyway, right? Things like square footage, lot size, location, view, builder, age, condition, bedroom count, and level of upgrades can all make a big impact on the value of your home. Take for instance, the location. Imagine if your home backed to Sunrise Blvd. Would you say that the typical buyer would probably pay less for your property because of the increased traffic noise? Or do you think a buyer would pay a premium for a house with 500 additional square feet or a house with $100,000 worth of upgrades? Or if brand new houses in Anatolia are selling for much less than yours did in 2005 , would someone pay the same price for your house as they would for brand new one?

These factors certainly make a difference with the level of property tax you pay, but one of the most significant realities to confront is when current property taxes are not based on the true state of the overall housing market. Housing prices have declined so drastically in recent years and the prices are at levels much before 2004 in most cases (some say 2001). The truth is that the conditions of the market and the assessments given by the Assessor are capable of being way out of sync with current market trends (and not to the advantage of the home owner in most cases). This fact makes a big difference in our wallets too because we could be paying hundreds or sometimes thousands of dollars too much in property taxes each year unless we take steps to shed light on the true value of your home.

As your local tax appeal specialist, if you have any questions about the tax appeal process, please give me a call at 916-595-3735. My residential real estate company is based in Rancho Cordova and I am very familiar with Anatolia.

http://www.AnatoliaTaxAppeal.com Does the Assessor’s Office Get Your Value Right?

Sales & Current Listings in all of Rancho Cordova (06-09)

Anatolia Tax Appeal — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 15:55:45 +0000

The graphs below show all sales and listings within the city of Rancho Cordova for three years from February 1, 2006 to January 31, 2009. This graph includes data from both the 95742 zip code and the 95670 zip code. Some of the higher sales and listings on the graphs are obviously homes in Anatolia whereas the lower end of the market are older housing portions in the 95670 zip code.

The data below only considers sales price and date of sale and does not take into consideration relevant market factors such as level of upgrades, condition, location, quality of construction, size, layout, age, tract, and design among other things. A very detailed analysis of your particular property and the surrounding real estate market is crucial for a tax appeal situation and makes all the difference for where your house would fit on the market spectrum.

http://www.AnatoliaTaxAppeal.com Sales in all of Rancho Cordova (06-09)