Taxes going down!

[peanut]

So I bake bread and, just for good measure and to fill the oven, I throw in a batch of marmalade muffins. Talk to my dsis#3 on the phone. Haul out the baking. Hang up. And who should appear on my doorstep but a tax assessor wanting to do a walk through! Well nothing like making a good impression I guess!

So she walks through the house and I correct her on a few things and fill her in on some things. She comments the house has been redrywalled. I told her it's still the original lathe and plaster. But we do have a newer furnace, etc.

I asked her if our house really was that much better than everyone else's in the neighborhood, because a brief look at the city website shows it as being assessed at a much higher value. She proceeds to tell me the horror stories of the homes she's looked at so far. Our neighborhood was built around the 1930s. A lot of the homes still have boiler heat and the old electrical connections, even though they're against city code. And our home is in good shape, even though it's old.

So she says she's not changing the rating of the house. I'm thinking, 'okay, now I know everyone else's home in the neighborhood is toast'. She leaves and I pick up the phone to tell dh 'no luck, we're stuck with our high taxes'. The doorbell rings before dh gets to the phone. It's the tax assessor again. She asked me about the deck out back. I'm goin 'what deck? didn't I just tell you we had a patio?' So I take her out back and she gets this grim look on her face. Turns out we've been assessed for the last I don't know how many years as having a deck out back. She's taking it off the assessment. Claims our taxes will be going down as a result.

So yahoo! I'm doing the happy dance!

Jean

[littlemotherhaywood]

That's good news. I would ask about a credit for all the years they billed you as having a deck though. That's not fair.

[peanut]

I didn't think of that. I wonder if they do that. Will have to ask.

Jean

[littlemotherhaywood]

I would think it's unlawful for them to charge you for something you didn't have. They wouldn't hesitate to adjust your taxes and charge back taxes if they discovered you had something you hid for years.

[PrairieRose]

I've disputed our taxes before and got them lowered too. Most of the time in our area they won't even send someone out, they just say why do you think it's not worth what we've appraised it at and I'll tell them. They say ok, what about if we lower it xxx amount I'm thinking we're all over appraised and they will adjust it if you make enough noise. WTG on making enough noise Jean

[miss_thrifty]

I'm glad its going down for you. Tax accesors can be a pain.