latest surprise: county appraisal of home up 16%

[jinx]

Yep, the county tax office sent out their yearly appraisal notice and have valued my home 16% higher than last year. Are they out of the F$*(#ing mind?

My neighbor said theirs went up 14% and a buddy who owns a few acres in the same city said his went up 15%.

I've just started the ch7 process and I am in the middle of the paper work when I get this letter. As if I needed another problem right now. This will raise my property taxes nearly $500/yr. Now I got to appeal this appraisal to fight off another debt I cannot pay.

I cannot wait to see what bomb shell will hit me next

[JRScott]

County Tax Appraisals are horrid in most counties. Lord my bro put a little 5x5 deck on the back of his house from the glass sliding doors and his county told him the house was worth 10k more.

You'll need to get an official appraisal.

Good Luck in fighting it however do not use the tax value on your bk papers use the actual value....county probably inflating it so as not to 'raise' taxes.....

[walkthaplank]

Thank God for Prop 13. Not that they don't try to repeal it every year, but it is a true saving grace in California. Many people would have been taxed out of their homes over the last several years without it.

[justbroke]

This is actually not a shock to me. My guess is that many municipalities are (artificially) raising assessment value in order to get more "revenue" from taxes! The problem is, that this only backfires on them.

Luckily, in Florida, if the home is homesteaded, then was have the goold ole "Save Our Homes" which prevents them from increasing taxes on the property by a certain percentage. Plus, we get to deduct $50K from the value.

[momof3b1g]

Yes ours went up this year also. They told dh it is a year behind. We had to get an appraisal for our bk. We had alot of equity.

[Flamingo]

Depending where you live, some counties have not raised their property taxes in many years and with this economy they are taking advantage of that situation and upping them now as a way to generate more funds. With low home sales, there is no revenue from transfer taxes or other fees so they look elsewhere along with budget cuts or layoffs. Our county taxes are going up 25% July 1st. Next year watch your school taxes go up also.

[jinx]

Last year the value went down by $6000... no complaints from me Its just funny how the economy is and home sales being what they are that the county thinks my house is now $35,000 more valuable than it was last year.... seriously? maybe they can buy it from me at that price cause I would sell it in a heartbeat if I was offered that!

Whats funny is if I sold my house at that price I would have enough money to pay off all of my CC debts and avoid bankruptcy. I'd have to have it sold by next week though so it ain't gonna happen

In other news.... looks like I am starting to get "unhappy creditor" notices. got a notice from one credit card that they reduced my limit and from another about an "urgent matter". Not to mention I'm getting anonymous and unknown calls out of the blue. I was not able to make the minimum payment last month and things are just getting worse which is why i'm going BK.