<mabelmapleleaf[at]yahoo.com> wrote

- quote -

If you received a loan to purchase the property, then there
should be an appraisal. If this is the case, the Lender
should be obligated to give you a copy. If the appraisal's
valuation is less than the assessor's then that should be
all you need to get the assessment lowered.

--
Rick Hess
New Orleans
To reply, eliminate All_Spammers

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mabelmapleleaf[at]yahoo.com wrote:

- quote -

Susan and I have owned a condo and two houses. In all three
case, we paid below the assessed market value. In all three
cases I appealed the assessed value and had it lowered.

The most significant case was where I paid $62,500 for a
house with an assessed value of $74,000+. At the hearing
one of the board members asked if I would sell him the
house for $75,000. I replied that I bought this house as
a place for my family to live, not as a business opportunity
transaction. I also presented documentation that the seller
had the property on the market for three months at $65,000
and my offer of $62,500 was accepted without negotiation.

County Assessors should obey the law of open market
transactions, but lately County Assessors are hiring
contract assessors who are paid on the basis of the increase
in the assessment. In my rarely humble opinion, this is
unethical.

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mabelmapleleaf[at]yahoo.com wrote:

- quote -

The legal definition of market value is what a willing buyer
would pay a willing seller, neither under a compulsion to
buy or sell. If they can establish that someone else would
have paid $250,000 for the house, that could well be the
market value.

Otherwise what you paid should be the presumptive value.
Get a lawyer familiar with property tax issues and challenge
them.

Good luck.

Stu

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We just moved into a new house which our contractor sold us
for a total price of $200K.

The local tax appraiser wants to use a square foot method of
appraisal and this will result in an appraisal, for the tax
role, of about 250K. He says that this house is worth this
price in this neighborhood, regardless of what we bought it
for.

I am aware that, in Texas, the tax appraisal should be the
Fair Market Value. I contend that is the same as what I
paid for it. The tax appraiser says different.

How should I proceed with this ? Is there any information
on the web that I could download as a reference ?

Thanks,

Mabel

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