Ouch
We just got our appraisal.
Up far more than allowed, so that other $14000 hangs over next year just in case things slow down.
Two years go we challenged the tax man an won by getting our tax value dropped down $200,000. When we built in 2000 our taxes were at $4600, now we sit at $14,000 per year. It would have been $16,000 without the challenge. This is beyond ridiculous. It is interesting to watch the games they play. If the house value goes down $100,000, they raise the land value by $100,000.
Surprise, surprise! We are now at $8.5K annual compared to $7.4 last year.
(I just checked the county’s page for our house, and the new photo looks much better than the last. Dang. I now have a plan: this summer, we are going to keep the trash cans, junk and such in the driveway to scare the crap out of the assessor. Maybe even the drag the doghouse out front… This will make him think twice before assigning a 9 to our property! )
I filed an appeal a few years ago based on one of the few things they actually approve. I had our house professionally measured and it was about 300 sq ft less than the county had it in the books. Produced a small decrease which I had mixed feelings about… my house is smaller than I thought it was when I bought it!!! Who do I sue??
But our property tax bill here in NC is 17% of what we were paying in NJ and it is much more stable. In NJ it went up every year. Property tax bill on our house doubled from when we bought it to when we sold it (13 yrs), but the market value more than doubled so I stopped complaining after I sold it… complained a lot before that!
Took a while for my wife to adjust to the idea that our annual tax payment here is less than our quarterly payment was in NJ. Don’t get too excited dear, our income is also a small fraction of what it once was.