Notification of Assessed Value and How to Request Informal Reviews
If you are a home owner, you probably already got the Notification of Assessed Value for your property from mail. For this year, the property value most likely is increased compare to last year. But I bet most of you are like me, DO NOT believe that your property value has jumped that much!!! Now it’s time to request an informal review according to prop 8.
Before you request a review, it is a good idea to check the 3 comps that county picked to determine your property value. For example, if your property is in Santa Clara County, you can log on to http://rp.sccassessor.org/comps. Click “View Appraisal and Comparable Sales”, enter your APN and PIN (you can find the PIN on the Notification letter). Those 3 properties picked by county are usually sold between 1/1 and 3/31 in that year, and within a short distance to your property.
To request a review, you can log on to http://rp.sccassessor.org/prop8, click “Start Filing Request”. Note this is an informal request. County assessor will review you request between 8/1 and 8/15 then provide Yes or No after that. If your request is denied or you are not satisfied with the re-assessed value, you can file a formal Application for Changed Assessment between July 2 and September 15.
While filing the request for informal review, you need to do the following things:
1. Enter an estimated value you think is appropriate
2. Provide 3 comps you find on market
a. You can use redfin.com to look for property sold in your neighborhood (usually within 2 miles radius, the closer the better), and closed before 3/31 of this year
b. You may not be able find the exact same size/style kind of property, but you can find a similar property (maybe a larger one), then make adjustment on the sales price to be your property estimated value
c. When county makes the adjustment, it will subtract a certain value based on the size difference, such as $150/sqft, based on the area. But you can hold a different opinion. It might be $400/sqft in Evergreen neighborhood. The redfin.com or zillow.com usually tells you how much $ per sqft cost at your area.
3. At the end, you should provide a comment and note to county to explain why you think your property estimated value should be lower. The comps you provided should be the most critical info, however I think you can also comment on that similar property listed in your neighborhood for such price cannot be sold for a long period of time.
4. Before click Submit, double check what you entered because you can only submit the request ONCE
Eventually, the county assessor is the decision maker. Although I had successfully experience, while the county financial situation is getting worse, it is more and more difficult to lower your property tax any more. Good luck!
Your Neighbor