Sometimes you can read article after article on a particular subject but it just doesn’t hit home until ... well, until it hits home.
Steve Emerine, who writes the column on the page opposite this one (in the printed version of this publication) is a former Pima County Assessor. He wrote several columns last year about the potential of the head-on collision that could take place as a result of increased assessed valuations that were based on the record real estate market of 2005. Those valuations will kick in with this fall’s property tax bills. At the rate things are going we could be deep in the throws of a full-blown recession about that time.
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I also know that in Arizona, the assessed valuation is not supposed to exceed the market value. As a general guideline I’m told valuations for tax purposes are usually less than about 90 percent of what the full market value might be.
Emerine knew of a company, called Tax Detective, which specializes in appealing residential valuations. Their deal is that they get to keep half of whatever the taxpayer saves in the first year as the result of a successful appeal. I didn’t think that was bad. Half of something is better than nothing. And, considering state law says the county has to leave the valuation unchanged for a second year after a successful appeal, I’d get to keep all of the money the following year.
I learned last week my appeal was denied at both the county level and the state level.
For the heck of it, I checked the website zillow.com last week. If you haven’t seen it, you ought to check it out. It provides free real estate valuation data along with a nifty aerial view of whatever house you’re looking up. If their line chart is anywhere close to accurate the valuation the county put on my house is within 3 percent of highest value my house has ever been worth in the past five years. Not only that, the value has dropped more than 5 percent since then.
By checking the Pima Count Assessor’s website I also found out my home was undervalued for this tax year compared to some other houses in my neighborhood. I suppose from the county’s point of view I’ve been having it too good until now. On the other hand I don’t know what happened to my neighbors’ property values for 2008. Somehow it doesn’t come up at block properties.
Anyway, for me, the facts are my property values this year are the highest they’ve ever been − by a long shot. The fact for all of us is that according to Marshall Vest, the University of Arizona economist, we’re probably in a recession. We don’t know how long it will last or how bad it will get.
If one of those property tax rollback measures hits the November ballot, I just might vote for it.
Anybody with me?
E-mail comments for publication to editor@azbiz.com.
Contact David Hatfield at dhatfield@azbiz.com or (520) 295-4237.
Comments
Cable guy wrote on Jan 18, 2008 8:31 PM:
Gary wrote on Jan 14, 2008 5:09 PM: