interp[RE]tation
Taxes

City of Charlottesville Housing Affordability Program

July 2, 2009 by Sasha C. Farmer Realtor · Leave a Comment 

Just this week the City will be sending out applications for it’s 2009 housing affordability program. The aim of this program is to offer credits of either $375 or $525 (depending on the income of the applicant) toward their 2009 December real estate tax bill.

Criteria is as follows (taken from the Charlottesville Housing Authority Program website at the City of Charlottesville);

You must legally own a qualifying city property as of January 1, 2009
• AND you must live in this home
• AND the current year assessed value on this property is NOT more than $365,000
• AND your federal adjusted household gross income for 2008 is $50,000 or less
• AND you are not receiving funds from the Real Estate Relief fund
• AND you owe no delinquent real ~ taxes and own no other estate property

The deadline to submit applications for this program is September 1, 2009. Please let me know if you have questions about the program or could use any help applying.

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Appealing Your Tax Assessment

January 4, 2009 by Sasha C. Farmer Realtor · Leave a Comment 

I have had several clients and friends ask me about their most recent Albemarle County Tax Assessments (just sent to home owners yesterday) and if there is any way to fight the numbers.  I found a really great article that summarizes everything you need to know about this subject and then some.   Many thanks to Sellsius Real Estate Blog!

Some reassuring words of wisdom…

Public tax assessors do not visit your home to value it. They don’t even do a drive-by. And they have less information than the MLS– sometimes only beds, baths, square footage. Besides being incomplete, the data may be inaccurate (just ask Zillow, who uses public data). In determining your home’s market value, the tax assessor usually just looks at recent sales in your area and picks a number, often based on the highest sale. Don’t fret. You can fight city hall, if you know how.

So will this really work?

What are your chances? According to the National Taxpayers Union, your chances of getting a lower tax bill are about 1 in 3. But like most statistics, ignore them. You lose little by trying. And if you lower your tax bill, it helps on a future sale to have property taxes lower than your neighbors. Also, in a time of falling house prices, you have a better chance of winning, since the public data, like Zillow’s, is lagging the market.

This agent’s advice;

A few pointers when fighting your tax assessment:

  • Ask to see a written notice of your appeal rights
  • File your appeal promptly (use certified mail RRR), according to the instructions. Make a copy for your records.
  • Ask for an “in person” appeal. It’s much better than just sending in paperwork.
  • Ask the assessor for the information used to calculate your assessment, including all comps and data on your home — remember, the public data may be wrong, right David Gibbons?
  • Get your local broker to gather evidence to dispute the market value– recent sales and current list prices of appropriate comps– and put it in a written report, very much like a CMA report.
  • Document (photos) the unzillowables, like the sewer drainage pipe next to your shore house or the steep (useless) lot you’re on, as opposed to your neighbors. Remember, the tax assessor is unaware of these unzillowables when it comes to your individual house, right David?
  • Hire an appraiser if you are allowed to (some jurisdictions forbid it)
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