It’s that time again
Real Estate assessments have been released by the city, and can be viewed online. The party line is to expect smaller increases, with a “rise averaging a bit less than 5.5 percent.” Be warned, though:
Some South Richmond neighborhoods — mainly those with relatively modest homes worth about $150,000 or less — will see increases averaging more than 20 percent, [City Assessor James D.] Hester said.
Over here in Forest View, everyone seems to have been hit with an increase of around 10%. Our assessment has doubled since 2005. Given the utter lack of increase in services provided by the city (and the fact that both the city and RPD have repeatedly declined to assist with the out-of-control traffic situation over here), the increase is increasingly hard to swallow…
Can we dispute these? My house is identical to the one next to it, except I have a garage, and my assessment is increasing exponentially while my neighbor’s increase is more palatable.
They can be disputed (Appeal process), but the degree of success varies. We were told two years ago that we could appeal and would likely win, but they’d just make up for it the next year. So we didn’t dispute it and still got major increases last year. If Caitlin reads this, I’m sure she can tell you everything you never wanted to know about the appeals process.
I went through the appeals process 2 years ago and they did reduce my assessment very slightly. For mine they actually came inside the house which I think hurt since they were saying things like “Oh, that’s really nice” etc.
For 2008 my assessment hasn’t changed at all – it looks like none of my immediate neighbors had an increase either. Of course, with the current real estate slump, you could argue that all of the assessments are unrealistic right now.
Oh man, if anybody wants my help with an appeal, I’ll be happy to offer it. Be prepared to fight the city for 10 months, and to have a disappointing outcome, though. Mine went up another $12,000 this year—-half of what it went up last year, but still WAY too much for this crappy housing market.
I think the real estate assessor is still living in a fantasy land where the mortgage crisis didn’t happen and property values nationwide aren’t crashing. I think he seriously needs to re-evaluate his career choice, as he’s obviously not well-suited to this one.
Also, I think we should band together as a neighborhood and really put pressure on city council and the mayor’s office to re-evaluate the ridiculous over-assessments in our neighborhood. Personally, I won’t stay in the city if the taxes are going to keep going up exponentially. I’m not that loyal to urban development.