property taxes again- how does assessment work?

[bluebayou]

I got another letter yesterday from Cass County.  This one was a form that listed how the County was appraising/assessing my property and it included a letter where I protest changes.

Well, basically, the unimproved, second lot kept the same value at $1200 or so for a half acre.  The larger lot with house went down in value from $5000 to $2800, but the value of my improvements (house and barn) went up by something like $3000.  So there was a net gain in some way.

So what I don't get is how does all of this work?  I know that some guy from the County drives around and looks at the property (probably from his truck on the side of the road).  Other than that..........

If I improve the barn/utility building on the interior so that they never know.....then the value stays the same?  If I improve the exterior does the value go up? 

Obviously if the value goes up then I have to pay more in taxes right?  So................I don't want visible improvements until I am ready to sell and then I get it appraised again???

I am new to all of this so if these questions are dumb then let me know.

[victorcharlie]

Your suppose to tell on yourself by getting a building permit for "improvements".

Welcome to the shake down.....

No kiss included.

No one owns property in this country, we just lease it from the county and city.

[bluebayou]

For what its worth too-  Why would one lot go down in price while the other lot stayed the same price?

[torpedoman]

In colorado they will sneak in while you are not at home and measure your house and out buildings  and peek thru the windows I know because i cought one in the act and he told me that the county had the right to come on my property and i told him i had the right to shoot people sneaking around peeking in my windows.

[hillbill]

just call your assesor at the county court house and they can answer most of your questions, if there is something yu dont like and can prove your point and bitch enuf, they might change it. in MO they are elected officals here where i reside and like their cushy job and dont really want to piss of the voteing public if they can keep from it.

[ShadowMover]

No one owns property in this country, we just lease it from the county and city.

How true. It's just like the feudal system where the vassal  (you) pays rents to the king. If they didn't pay the king would send some soldiers down to boot you out. Same as now, we really don't 'own' anything do we?

[woodchukhntr]

The way it is supposed to work is that all property within the taxing governmental unit (town, village, city, etc.) gets appraised, the total amount of the government budget is compared to the total appraised value, and a tax rate of so many dollars per $1000 of appraised value is set, so everybody pays a fair share.

It never seems to work that way in reality.  The best method to use for valuation is full value of the property.  So if your property is valued at $100,000 (the real market value), your taxes would be based on it's real value.  The problems start when properties in specific areas raise or fall at a different rate than would be normal within the governmental unit.  This happens a lot with lakefront property, which raises faster than the average residential property.  People who have owned those properties find their taxes raising faster than the others, which may put them in a financial bind just because the live where they do.  Of course, their property has increased a lot in value, but that doesn't help them until they sell it.

Of course, it always seems that your $100,000 property is assessed higher than the $250,000 property down the road.  Then again, you are not the town supervisor's brother-in-law!

[magooch]

Property taxes are just another way that we the governed have allowed the rulers to screw us.  I have never believed that one should be taxed by the value of his property.  If one lives in a castle, he gets the same police, fire and other services as a man who lives in a one room shack.  By increasing taxes on property that is improved, it becomes a penalty for doing a good thing.

In truth, my perspective is that people who live in wealthy neighborhoods are often less served by police and other government services.  At least around these parts, the cops spend the majority of their time in the slums.  I can't remember the last time a mansion caught fire and most of the social worker's time is also spent in the less affluent parts of town.

I don't mean to make the case for lower taxes for the "better off"; I just believe that property taxes should be equally borne.

[rex6666]

In the City of Arlington TX. where they are building the new Cowboys stadium, the city was buying
up the property, some went ahead and sold, some held out, come to find out what the city was paying was several thousand dollars less than what the properties were on the tax rolls for, THEIR
HAVE BEEN MANY QUESTIONS ASK.

[hillbill]

speaking of crookedness, i have heard here in newton co of MO, that a moderate donation to the current assesors reelection campaign fund can get yu a more favorable assesment

[hillbill]

magooch, seems yu hit the nail on the head.if you work all your life and try to do right by your family and provide them with a decent, safe  enviroment, then yu are penalized financially for it. if you lay around your rented house smokeing weed and drinking beer and not showing up for work because its too much trouble, guess what? you will recieve all the same services a more industrious individual will plus you wont be troubled by being taxed on your property or earnings or any capital gains on investments you have made to insure independence in your infirm years.can anybody say FAIR TAX? the only fair tax would be a consumption tax, the more yu consume the more yu are taxed.

[bluebayou]

In the City of Arlington TX. where they are building the new Cowboys stadium, the city was buying
up the property, some went ahead and sold, some held out, come to find out what the city was paying was several thousand dollars less than what the properties were on the tax rolls for, THEIR
HAVE BEEN MANY QUESTIONS ASK.

I lived in Arlington 3 separate times.  Last year I drove down Collins coming from airport to pick a guy up.  I didn't know anything about the new stadium (what can I say I lived under a rock in Oklahoma).  I almost wrecked into the oncoming traffic.  WOW.  Everything South of.......Randol Mill was just....gone.  Who would have thunk it. 

[bluebayou]

The way it is supposed to work is that all property within the taxing governmental unit (town, village, city, etc.) gets appraised, the total amount of the government budget is compared to the total appraised value, and a tax rate of so many dollars per $1000 of appraised value is set, so everybody pays a fair share.

It never seems to work that way in reality.  The best method to use for valuation is full value of the property.  So if your property is valued at $100,000 (the real market value), your taxes would be based on it's real value.  The problems start when properties in specific areas raise or fall at a different rate than would be normal within the governmental unit.  This happens a lot with lakefront property, which raises faster than the average residential property.  People who have owned those properties find their taxes raising faster than the others, which may put them in a financial bind just because the live where they do.  Of course, their property has increased a lot in value, but that doesn't help them until they sell it.

Of course, it always seems that your $100,000 property is assessed higher than the $250,000 property down the road.  Then again, you are not the town supervisor's brother-in-law!

What kills me is that I got a "survey" letter from the Assessor's Office wondering about my new home's purchase price and the closing process.  I was to put the selling price, the appraised value, and some other stuff on this form to send to the Assessor.  I filled the whole thing out and then forgot to mail it.............I found it in the kitchen a few days ago.  My thinking now is, "why screw myself by giving them more information?"

[DDelle338]

  A fellow near me bought his house, and just under two years from when he moves in, they come out to do an assesment. Well they want to fine him for finishing the basement into a nice family room without getting any permits to do the work! When he tells them that it was finished when he bought it they decide that in addition to the fines he still must pay, he also owes back taxes for the improvements back to when he purchased the home. So far he has spent about three times the amount of what the taxes are in lawyer fees fighting against having to pay a fine for something he didn't do. But now the last I heard, they are trying to collect back taxes for the improvements back to when the last assesment was done,,, many years before he bought it! 
 I need to find out how he is doing with this, haven't talked to him in a while.