Back in TN, we knew a lawyer that would challenge it for you and was batting close to 1.000 on reductions.
Got a new place last year and noticed that taxes went up $14k on the home in 1 year
Is there anyone in NOVA who does similar things?

Would you accept the appraised value in a sale?

that is the usual 'trick' the local governments use.
They keep the appraisals just low enough it is often very hard to win adjustments.

Yep.  The "assessed value" is usually about 30% below true market value.  They're going to steal your money one way or the other - either by assessed value or rate increase.

Do a Zillow or similar search, see what the market value is for you/neighbors.  See if your significantly different than your neighbors

Alexandria http://realestate.alexandriava.gov/  
Fairfax http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dta/real-estate-assessments.htm  
Prince William  http://www.pwcgov.org/government/dept/finance/Pages/Real-Estate-Assessments.aspx  

Net/Net is that if assessment or recent sales support the price, hard to appeal.

The NoVA trick is to increase your assessment or monkey with the per $100 fee to get the number they need.

That's not at all the case in Loudoun Co.  No way in hell I'd be getting ~$465k for my house right now.  The assessment is just now getting back to a little less than what I paid for it 11 years ago.  This year was the smallest increase ever for me.

Let me tell you a little story about a guy named Jerry the Drunk. Back in 2007, before the real estate bubble burst the assessed values were the highest they ever were in Un-Fairfax County. So, in order to win his bid for Congress, Jerry the Drunk lowered the tax rate.  Ol' Jerry got his wish and off to the land of Graft & Honey on the hill  he went.

Now the Un-Fairfax Board was suck when the bubble burst and is too chickens$%t to raise the rate but they need the dough.

My 2015 assessment is 5 grand over what I paid for the place in the last week and it is above average condition, good neighborhood, etc. I'm appealing to the board of equalization with my two week old appraisal. If they deny it, watch the editorial section of the Washington Compost.  NOVA sux

You mean Gerry the Drunk?  The "Con-man"?

Major asshole.  If the R's had actually run an active campaign against him, we could pack him off to K Street and get someone who might represent somebody other than Obungo.

So a few years back I sucessfully fought my assessment.  I was able to show that my assessment per square foot was too high compared to neighbors.  It has been lower ever since.  I used the online tax database to make the calculations. If I remember correctly, I got my assessment dropped 20%

I compared my assessment to 5 or 6 others.

OP - a lawyer is not needed or wanted for an appeal.  A 14k assessment increase will result in about $150 more per year in taxes.  That $150 will reduce taxable income by that amount, so it could only cost $100 or so.  I could not imagine an attorney charging less than $200 to prepare an appeal and would likely charge closer to $500, which would take 2+ years to break even.

The appeals process varies by county and I have only done an appeal in Fairfax.  I actually did it twice and lost the first time and "won" the second time.  They use recent sales data as a basis for assessment and if the house you just bought is in a neighborhood of similar properties and none of them have been sold for years, the county could justifiably raise your assessment up to the recent selling price.  When I contacted Fairfax about the large assessment increase on my house after buying it, the guy read the MLS (realtor multiple listing service) description to me.  The MLS said "new kitchen, completely renovated" and so on.  Hence the big increase.  

As for the person above posting about Fairfax County being afraid to raise the tax rate and that they "need" more money, please tell me that you are being sarcastic.  The only things for which it needs more money are free school lunches and the housing authority.

Want == Need to the Unfairtax County BOS.

The county lowered the assessment of my house and raised property tax so I ended up paying MORE

Shit, my house went up 30% in 2013 and 16% this year.  My assessed value is around 420K.  Zillow has my house value at 465k.  

My taxes went up like crazy now I am paying around 5k a year in takes.  I am getting tired of this bullshit.  I am planning on moving to PWC in the dale city area.

Classic.

They start with a number at the far end of the equation - how much $ they want - and work backwards with the variables. Same shit everywhere. It's the one major revenue source they can control, everything else is either too small or out of their hands.

My assessment keeps going down and I don't like it.  I think I may have royally screwed myself with this condo.

My mother retired from being county treasurer a few years ago.  At that time, our real estate was assessed at 100% of the value.  Assessed value and sale price are two different thing however.  Around here they take the appraisal value and basically add 8-10% in realtor markup to get the sale price.  In our county you get notified from the Commissioner of Revenues office with the assessment value.  At that time you can follow the excerpt from the county website below:


"A MESSAGE FROM THE OFFICE OF THE COMMISSIONER OF REVENUE OF FRANKLIN COUNTY, MARGARET S. TORRENCE CONCERNING ERRONEOUS PROPERTY ASSESSMENTS: (Effective February 1, 2012)

Please be advised that your property was assessed during the 2012 General Reassessment of Franklin County. Notices were mailed to all property owners at that time and hearings were held by both the Board of Assessors and the Board of Equalization.

Your only recourse at this time would be to petition the Circuit Court Judge and present evidence supporting your appeal.
ALL SALES or documents used in the appeal process must be prior to January 1, 2012.

There is a filing fee of $126.00 payable to the Franklin County Clerk of Circuit Court. Please mail the enclosed petition along with your check to the Franklin County Clerk of Circuit Court's office at: P. O. Box 567, Rocky Mount, VA 24151. You will be notified of a date to appear and present your appeal."

Damn. I prefer the "Easy Button," good-ole-boy method of having some local lawyer pull some strings and make numbers roll back, wish that could happen up here.