In the wake of a countywide reappraisal, appeals are on the rise. Read the full article here.
Archive for the ‘Appraisals’ Category
Rise or fall, owners are appealing appraisals
Thursday, December 22nd, 2011‘Real Estate Matters’ by Ilyce Glink
Wednesday, June 29th, 2011In a reverse of the old idiom, Ilyce Glink discusses real estate valuations as ‘what goes down must come back up.’ As real estate values are challenged, some counties are lowering the recorded value of the homes… but raising the value of the land to balance lost tax revenue. In her Q & A article, she discusses this as well as other issues facing homeowners in this changing market both in a recent article in the Columbus Dispatch, as well as on her own website, www.Think-Glink.com
Get Cash Back From Decreasing Home Values – Franklin County in the News
Thursday, January 20th, 2011The Franklin County auditor said Wednesday that they are expecting thousands of people to request their home values to be reassessed this year because of decreasing property values.
In a news report broadcast last night, the current plight of the Franklin County homeowner was discussed. So many homes can not sell for the value at which they are taxed. It is estimated that the number of appeal submissions will triple in the next year.
Read the Full Article here
Franklin County Tax Assessment
Wednesday, January 5th, 2011![]() |
Attention Franklin County Residents…Your real estate tax bills will be mailed in mid-December!If you believe the market value of your home is less than the county auditors total assessed value, you have the right to dispute your tax assessment. Last tax year, a 3 member board processed more than 65000 dispute applications. Don’t miss out on the opportunity this year to ensure your assessment is accurate. Typical resolution time of a tax appeal may be up to 6 months. A current real estate appraisal of your home can expedite the process. We can not only provide an appraisal, but will also help guide you through the appeals process. The Buckeye Appraisal Service staff has over 45 years experience conducting Real estate Appraisals in the state of Ohio with an A+ Better business bureau rating.The Columbus Board of Realtors reports the average market sales price has decreased by $22,318 since 2006 (as of September, 2009). Appeal applications are only accepted from December (after the tax bill is mailed) through March 31.
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Reappraisal is the Remedy
Tuesday, January 4th, 2011In an insightful article, the Colubus Distpatch’s Bill Bush discusses why the “Tax value of homes are likely to be sliced.”
You can read the full article on the Dispatch’s site or below.
Tax value of homes likely to be sliced
By Bill Bush
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
A 2,430-square-foot Dublin house just across the street from the Country Club at Muirfield Village is appraised by Franklin County at $366,400.
Involved in a foreclosure, the house at 7815 Knickers Court was put up for sale by a trust in October 2009 for $287,500, 22 percent below its appraised price. And there it had sat.
Its sale closed last week for $215,000, 41 percent less than its tax value, said Joe Armeni, the broker at RE/MAX City Center who sold the house. That’s low even for a house that needed tens of thousands of dollars in work, he said.
Franklin and Delaware counties probably will lower the tax values of many homes this summer because the two are among the most over-appraised of the 41 Ohio counties that must reappraise properties in 2011.
“We are anticipating reductions somewhere between 5and 10 percent,” said Delaware County Auditor George Kaitsa.
Even if you get a reduction in your house’s tax value, it doesn’t necessarily mean that your tax bill will drop. That depends on how your home compares with other properties in your taxing district.
The median tax value in Franklin County was 102percent – meaning 2 percent higher than what properties sold for in the first six months of 2010. That ranked fourth-highest in an Ohio Department of Taxation study. Delaware County was at 101.7percent, putting it at No. 5.
Medians that high are almost unprecedented in recent decades. That “makes it entirely appropriate for (those) county auditors to lower appraisals,” said John Kohlstrand, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Taxation. “It shows how soft real-estate values have been in the last three years.”
Historically, reappraisals increase assessments to keep pace with rising values, with the state prodding auditors to get the medians at least above the 90 percent level.
“We’ve not seen this, at least in my lifetime,” said Tony Frissora, chief of staff to Franklin County Auditor Clarence Mingo and the former head of the auditor’s real-estate division.
For one house, 102 percent would mean the appraisal was pretty accurate – a tax value of $102,000 on a house that sold for $100,000, for example.
But being that high on median means that half of the homes are appraised at more than 102 percent, Kohlstrand said. On a natural bell curve, those at the high end are paying way more than their fair share of taxes.
That’s why the state generally encourages auditors to get their county medians to between 92 percent and 94percent, to lessen the likelihood that properties are appraised too high, Kohlstrand said.
The gap between sale prices and appraisals is simply a reflection of the downturn in the real-estate market, and that changing market is why counties do reappraisals, Mingo said.
“The reappraisal is the remedy,” he said.
Then-Franklin County Auditor Joe Testa decided in 2008 to forgo a neighborhood-by-neighborhood update. Mingo doesn’t think that resulted in appraisals being more incorrect today, because the market downturn was just beginning.
Testa will take over the Department of Taxation in January, appointed by Gov.-elect John Kasich.
Delaware County’s condos and high-end homes have been hit hardest in the downturn, Kaitsa said. Generally, homes that sold in the past for more than $750,000 have seen declines of 20 to 30percent.
Similarly in Franklin County, “high-end homes over the past couple years were not selling,” Frissora said. He said those sales have been hurt because “jumbo loans” are less available today.
Even if you were lucky enough that your property value has remained the same, your tax bill could be higher if other properties in your taxing district have fallen in value. The reappraisal process will shift the burden.
Cities, school districts and other recipients of property taxes generally are guaranteed the same total, regardless of rising or falling tax values. Ohio’s “reduction factor” was designed to keep tax bills in check as property values rise, but now it will do the opposite: raise millage as total appraisals fall.
bbush@dispatch.com
Owners winning requests for tax cuts
Thursday, September 9th, 2010In a recent article for the Columbus Dispatch, Barbara Carmen reports that although the number of tax appeal submissions has trippled since 2008, 94% of those appeals are being approved. That means that 94% of those homeowners were paying too much in taxes. What are the chances you are in the same situation? You can read the full article on the Columbus Dispatch’s website.