Lowest Price Comps Aren't Always Best

The lowest price comparable homes aren't always the best when appealing your property tax assessment.

To successfully appeal your property tax assessment you must submit three to five comparable homes “comps” that support your case. Simply telling the assessor “My assessment is too high!” is not effective without evidence. Knowing this, most homeowners start by finding nearby comps that sold for less than their own home is assessed for. This is exactly what they should be doing.

However, there are plenty of times when its ok to actually use a home that sold for about the same, or slightly more than, your own home’s assessment.  Why? A home that is much nicer (more bedrooms, bathrooms, square feet, etc) than yours that has a similar property tax valuation could be as strong a comp as a home that is not as nice as yours and has a lower valuation. 

For example, lets say your two bedroom, two bathroom home is assessed for $300,000. Next door is a three bedroom, three bathroom home that sold just before the assessment date for $310,000. In most markets an extra bedroom and an extra bathroom should be worth a lot more than an extra $10,000 on the value of a home. Therefore, your home is overassessed because it would reasonably sell for less than $300,000 on the open market.