My Tax Appeal Blog

The 2008 Notice of Proposed Property Taxes have been mailed and property owners should be receiving them this week. They are posted on line and please look for the buttons on the left hand side of this page to view your 2008 assessment.

If you feel the value of your property is not accurate and that it does not reflect the true “market value” you can appeal the tax assessment by filing a petition for adjustment with the Value Adjustment Board. The appeal must be made prior to September 17, 2008 in Miami-Dade County.

There are many reasons the tax assessment can be inaccurate. These include:

• Tax assessments are done on a mass basis
• The tax assessor does not make individual adjustments for differences
• The property can be on a busy road or across from a school or commercial property
• The property may need repairs which are not accounted for
• The floor plan may have a "functional" problem or "obsolescence"
• There could be a mistake in the record
• Properties that were joined as one folio such as in “unity of title”
• Commercial properties whose economics may be lower than comparable sales due to long-term leases (leased fee)

Just Value:  Many US Taxpayers do not know that costs of sale can be decuted from the "market value" of a property, resulting in "just value."  Therefore, we argue "just value" at the special master's hearing.

Case Study: Recently I was successful in the appeal of a home in Coral Gables for the tax year 2007. This property was in "fair to poor" condition  and needed substantial repairs/replacements. I researched the county’s comparable sale data included all renovated homes!

The value of an agent representing the property owner in the appeal process is having the experience to analyze and argue the case before the county appraiser.  In this case, I was able to obtain a 25% reduction in the real estate taxes.

The agent can request the comparable sales the county is using in their defense of their market value.  These sales can be researched by us prior to the hearing. There are many inaccuracies with the public records in the past several years. Some of these are due mortgage fraud and recordings of bogus deeds in the public records. Since the assessor is not using the MLS to cross reference the sale info, it is not apparent to them.

The county often will not be able to discern the difference between a “good” sale, that is “arm’s length,” and one that is a “non-arm’s length” sale. These deeds that were recorded along with the fraudulent sales are usually sales that indicate artificially high prices.

Let our experience guide you in your tax appeal and Call Britt J. Rosen, CCIM today regarding representing you in your 2008 tax appeal.

Call Britt at (800) 869-5517 x207