NOTE!!! If you want to do this, the deadline is Nov. 30, 2023.
Recently I received my property tax bill from Fresno County and the assessment value is not something I agree with. As we know, the property tax is charged based on a percentage of the assessment value so making sure the assessment value is NOT higher than what it should be is very important. If you too have bought a property during the hot market and suspect that the value of your property may have decreased between the time you bought it and the time of current assessment (will explain what this means), you might benefit from appealing an assessment.
Here is what I did.
My husband and I just received our property tax bill in the mail, and we opened it to see a big bill. The property tax bill is based on the percentage determined by the county multiply by the net taxable value which in our case is the same as the assessment value. Note, if this were our primary home, we could have filed for a Homeowner’s Exemption to reduce the net taxable value.
Being on a close lookout for the real estate market, we know that if we were to list our property, we won’t be able to sell it for as high as the net taxable value, as some neighbors’ similar properties sold for significantly less recently. It’s a good idea to look into appealing the assessment to save some money.
At first I thought, “let me figure out the market value of our property right now”, but then I read closely about “current assessment value”. On the backside of property tax bill, it states “RIGHT TO APPEAL THE ASSESSMENT: If you have evidence that the assessment is not an accurate valuation of your property as of January 1, 2023, you have the right to file an Assessment Appeal between July 2 and November 30, 2023…” P.S. You still need to pay your current property tax bill on time!
Even if you purchased your home in summer of 2022 or summer of 2021, due to the seasonality of our local market, you might be able to find evidence to show that your property’s value as of January 1, 2023 is lower than the assessment value.
What did I do next?
There is instruction that you can follow on the backside of the property tax bill directing you to Fresno County’s Clerk of the Board of Supervisors (what a mouthful…) and then you’ll find a button that says “Assessment Appeals”.
From there, I found the “Assessment Appeals Application” form to download and fill out following the instructions on the form. One important thing was to find evidence showing my property value being lower than the assessment value. Of course, as a real estate agent, I can perform a property valuation for January 1, 2023 quickly and include it when I submit the application. If you don’t have access to the local MLS, just ask me to help you with this, or you can try to find similar properties sold a few months within that date and compile them in an easy-to-read format when you submit the application.
For our property, I was able to show the property value being $100,000 less than our assessment value. With our tax rate at 1.22%, we might save $1220 (as a refund from the county)! That’s right, the County only gave us less than 30 days to appeal but they get to have more than 2 years to review the application (Here insert emoji). There is a nonrefundable fee with this application, $86 but I’d save that 2 meals out to possibly get a $1220 check.
To state the importance again, if you plan to appeal the assessment value, you need to submit the application by Nov. 30, 2023!! Don’t miss it!
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