Posted by Stewart on October 25, 2003 at 22:07:17:
I know there is a course out there that speaks of a seller protesting his assessment and getting the taxes lowered as part of the deal to sell the house. I assume it was based on the contract which maybe was much lower than the assessed value.
lower property taxes before sale - Posted by madge
Posted by madge on October 25, 2003 at 16:10:12:
i am looking at purchasing a building but the property taxes are outrageous. is there anyway to get the seller to lower the taxes before the sale? any advice would help.
thanks
Why ask the seller? - Posted by gerald(tx)
Posted by gerald(tx) on October 26, 2003 at 23:37:12:
Why ask the seller to pursue the appeal?
In most areas, the annual assessment is usually in the spring, with a window for protests in the early summer. Your seller will have been out of the picture by that time, so the filing will be by you, as being the owner at the time protests are heard.
I have had good luck taking my bill of sale, closing statement, etc. to the informal protest hearing, showing that I actually paid less than the amount of the assessment. I also bring unflattering photos of the property’s worst features. I’ve always come away with some reduction, so the protest procedure is worth your time.
Re: lower property taxes before sale - Posted by David Krulac
Posted by David Krulac on October 25, 2003 at 18:04:33:
here in Pa. there is a window of 2-3 months where you can file appeals, usually that window closed Aug or Sep 1. so now in Oct 2003 you can’t file an appeal until summer 2004 and IF (and that’s a big IF) you are suceesful in your appeal, it wouldn’t take effect until Jan 2005!
David Krulac
Central Pennsylvania
Re: lower property taxes before sale - Posted by Dimpil
Posted by Dimpil on October 25, 2003 at 17:11:53:
The seller is not the person who assesses the taxes it’s the county/city tax department.
Re: lower property taxes before sale - Posted by madge
Posted by madge on October 25, 2003 at 17:37:19:
i understand that the county sets the taxes but what i want to know is how can i get the seller to pursue getting the taxes lowered before the sale?
Re: lower property taxes before sale - Posted by Dimpil
Posted by Dimpil on October 26, 2003 at 07:16:21:
Okay, if you really feel the taxes are too high then and that’s preventing you from doing the deal then maybe this is not the deal for you. It’s not easy to get the tax department to reassess and it doens’t always come back in your favor as the burden of proof is on the owner. It’s easy to get cars reassessed and you have proof via the Blue Book, but real property? You really have to show the community value has declined and your property has been negativlty impacted. Then all that even depends on how bad your tax departments needs revenue to run the city/county/schools/social programs etc.
Re: lower property taxes before sale - Posted by E.Eka
Posted by E.Eka on October 25, 2003 at 17:43:15:
I don’t understand where you’re going with this? Do you mean that you want the seller to pay some or all of the property taxes? Or you want the seller to approach the county/city etc. to try and have their property tax assessments lower?
If it’s the latter, you can forget about it, unless you can show proof that the assessment is too high.