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  Dear
Steve,
I received my property tax assessment on the newly built home I
purchased last year and it's $15,000 more than what it appraised
for when I moved in. I've heard this can easily be challenged, but
I'm curious if this higher assessment could actually help me get
more money when reselling my home, like an appraisal would? Should
I stick with the higher amount, or contest it? I'm not in the market
to sell, but I like to plan for the future.
-- Reconsidering
 Dear
Reconsidering,
A higher tax assessment placed on your home may be one gauge used
to justify its sale price in the near future, but your home's true
value will always be its market value, or the price it will fetch
on the open market. That is arrived at by a home appraisal and by
market conditions when it comes time to sell, not the assessment.
The laws in many states, however, require that tax assessments be
based on fair market value. Other states use a percentage of a property's
value.
Your assessment seems to have risen inordinately steeply,
although you don't say how much your home was valued to begin with,
so it's not possible to tell just how much it rose percentagewise.
By law, in most states, your assessment hike must fall within a
certain percentage range of the property's total market value. Because
it's a new-construction home, that can be a somewhat relative call.
Besides keeping current data on each property it assesses,
the tax assessor's office keeps tab on sales-price trends, construction
costs and rents to estimate its value of your property. It may well
be that you got a bargain on your home or that values of new-construction
homes have risen dramatically in your area in the last year, or
both. Keep in mind that one of the tax assessor's jobs is to protect
the aggregate tax base, so they rarely err on the side of conservancy
in their assessments.
You really have nothing to lose by challenging or
"protesting" your assessment and could realize a moderate-to-significant
savings in tax. (I've never heard of an instance where taxes are
raised after an unsuccessful challenge.) If you use paid representation
such as a property-tax consultant or a real estate attorney to assist
you in the process, your net gain may be lower, of course. Then
again, they know all of the most successful approaches.
As to whether the assessment can be "easily"
challenged, it's not always a walk in the park. You should be ready
to document your reasons for requesting a change. You might make
an effort to find out if your neighbors' assessments went up accordingly,
especially if your neighborhood has all new-construction homes.
You should also see how your home measures up to other comparable,
or "comp" houses, of the same size, general location and
age in your area. You can find information on such comps at the
assessor's office. You'll also want to dig up that appraisal you
had done when you bought the place.
And make sure your appeal notice arrives at the assessor's
office by the deadline. They make no exceptions.
Rest assured that it's very unlikely that an assessment
adjusted after a successful appeal can be used against you by someone
trying to make a lowball offer on your home in the future. Again,
it's market value that determines what someone will pay for it.
Best of luck in the process.
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