Do you allow your tax assessors access to your home?

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Do you allow your tax assessors access to your home? (Page 1 of 2)

Posted: 8/14/2007 6:34:36 AM EDT

Just curious.

When it's re-evaluation time, do you limit their access to the outside or do you allow them to walk thru your home?

Also, since I don't know if it varies by state, MUST you allow them in?

We don't have to in MA, and with most towns using civilian assessors, I am disinclined to:
who knows what these people's backgrounds are...and who knows if criminal imposters will try to take advantage?

I think I already know ARFcom's answer

But I am wondering if anybody does and if so, why?

Posted: 8/14/2007 6:38:49 AM EDT

[#1]

My parents house (I'm 16, not a bum

) got reassesed and the deal was if you didn't let them in you got assesed at the highest rate for your street/area, which here in suburban NJ is OBSCENE. Best let them in.

Posted: 8/14/2007 6:42:27 AM EDT

[#2]

In Florida they don't come inside.

Posted: 8/14/2007 6:44:18 AM EDT

[#3]

They never ask, their last drive by cost me a $36k increase on my value. I wasn't hit as hard as others from what I hear. But anyway FUCK NO !

Posted: 8/14/2007 6:45:51 AM EDT

[#4]

Quoted:
My parents house (I'm 16, not a bum

) got reassesed and the deal was if you didn't let them in you got assesed at the highest rate for your street/area, which here in suburban NJ is OBSCENE. Best let them in.

This statement is not true.
The rumor mill is very active where you live.I think you would have a very hard time backing up that statement.

BTW,I live behind enemy lines in The PRNJ too,and yes you are correct we have some of the highest property taxes in the contry.

Posted: 8/14/2007 6:47:49 AM EDT

[#5]

Assessors have never had to come in (northern VA); they do the assessment based on the exterior and recent sales prices for "comps" in the neighborhood.

Posted: 8/14/2007 6:48:30 AM EDT

[#6]

It's better to just let them in. After if you don't agree with the reassessment, then fight it. It should be carefully planned out comparing as many house as possible.

NJ taxes are very obscene! I know for a fact.

Posted: 8/14/2007 6:48:34 AM EDT

[#7]

Quoted:
Just curious.

When it's re-evaluation time, do you limit their access to the outside or do you allow them to walk thru your home?

Also, since I don't know if it varies by state, MUST you allow them in?

We don't have to in MA, and with most towns using civilian assessors, I am disinclined to:
who knows what these people's backgrounds are...and who knows if criminal imposters will try to take advantage?

I think I already know ARFcom's answer

But I am wondering if anybody does and if so, why?

DO NOT ALLOW THEM IN!

Their job is to generate revenue for the city/county/state. Think on that for a moment. Is an LEO praised by superiors when he writes less traffic tickets or more? Same rules apply to tax assessors.

Its not about fair, its about revenue. Worry less about imposters and more about phantom appreciation. Your new $600 refridgerator might classify as a $10,000 remodel

Posted: 8/14/2007 6:52:39 AM EDT

[#8]

The only house I own is in TN.

No revenuers allowed.

That is understood.

Posted: 8/14/2007 6:59:23 AM EDT

[#9]

Nope.

When they ask, I tell them politely that since he is a stranger, my dogs would take a bite out his crime.

My home is my castle, and whose to say that the assessor doesn't have a compadre that he calls and tells that this house, 12345 Somewhere Street, has a big tv, this, that and the other, and you find your house being burglarized?

Just because he/she is an assessor does not mean he/she is not a thief or an accomplice.

Trust no one and verify everything.

Posted: 8/14/2007 6:59:44 AM EDT

[#10]

Never let them in! They already know the size of your property, any additions to the house would be readily apparent from the outside. Just tell them that nothing has changed since the last assesment.

Posted: 8/14/2007 7:16:41 AM EDT

[#11]

In my area, they can do an OUTSIDE walk-around. They never asked to come inside.

Posted: 8/14/2007 7:20:01 AM EDT

[#12]

Quoted:
Nope.

When they ask, I tell them politely that since he is a stranger, my dogs would take a bite out his crime.

My home is my castle, and whose to say that the assessor doesn't have a compadre that he calls and tells that this house, 12345 Somewhere Street, has a big tv, this, that and the other, and you find your house being burglarized?

Just because he/she is an assessor does not mean he/she is not a thief or an accomplice.

Trust no one and verify everything.

That's where my line of thought is as well.
I realize I may be paranoid (no more so than the average ARFcommer) because the hubby has worked in the security and safety field all his life, but that's what I was thinking.
With home sales FLAT in my town and prices dropping, I don't think the comps in the area are gonna do any damage to my tax rate.

Yes, NJ has awful propety taxes...second only to CA, MA and RI.

<<sigh>>

Posted: 8/14/2007 7:20:47 AM EDT

[#13]

I caught one walking around in a house I was building

and told them to GTFO now, he couldn't leave fast enough

Posted: 8/14/2007 7:20:55 AM EDT

[#14]

They can walk the outside all they want, but they cannot come inside, and they never ask.

They are touchy around here, they dont like it when you approach them on your place and ask them what is going on. They back up and say TAX ASSESSOR, I say Hey glad to meet you, have a nice day... They really take alot of abuse.

Posted: 8/14/2007 7:37:38 AM EDT

[#15]

Prior to an assessment we get a letter from the town informing us of it. We are told the name of the company and what the person's badge will say.

If they 'miscount' the sanitary pipes on your roof, then you'll have to fight them and will eventually have an inspection. I found out if you're polite and helpful they might 'view' something a little easier. You get more with honey.....

Posted: 8/14/2007 8:04:11 AM EDT

[#16]

One of the PERKs in California

we have Prop 13.

If you bought your house in 1990 for $300,000 it's taxed @ 1.2% then and now

The tax stays at that level UNLESS you add on.

If you move to a new house, and your over a certain age (58 I think) and you buy a home of equal or lesser value that you sold your prior home for...you still pay the same tax on your 1990 value.

Unless you move out of your county, AND the county does not recpricate with the other.

If your disabled, you can do this @ any age and any county.

Posted: 8/14/2007 8:39:04 AM EDT

[#17]

You mean let them in to case the place… hell no.

Posted: 8/14/2007 8:43:39 AM EDT

[#18]

They have my mortgage data just like everyone else. If I build I need to pull a permit.

They will not come inside my home.

Posted: 8/14/2007 8:50:24 AM EDT

[#19]

Ours was done by satellite photo.

Posted: 8/14/2007 8:52:42 AM EDT

[#20]

As said above.....Never Allow them in your house!!!!!

Posted: 8/14/2007 8:57:19 AM EDT

[#21]

Quoted:
The only house I own is in TN.

No revenuers allowed.

That is understood.

Same here, but in AR

Posted: 8/14/2007 8:58:31 AM EDT

[#22]

Not just no, but hell no. I let one into the parents house back in the 70's. My ass still stings 30+ years later from dad finding out when he got home from work. Man, ain't no way someone could pay me to go through that again. Dad had a gun shop, all the stuff was in the basement, and the assessor was anti-gun. Let's just say the next tax bill was a bit more than it should have been.

Posted: 8/14/2007 8:59:13 AM EDT

[#23]

Quoted:

Just because he/she is an assessor does not mean he/she is not a thief or an accomplice.

If they are an assessor you already know they are a thief working for the government. If they will do that then they aren’t likely to worry if some underprivileged soul steals your stuff directly instead of going through the government middle man.

Posted: 8/14/2007 9:06:36 AM EDT

[#24]

People don't know the meaning of 'high property taxes' until you've lived in NJ for a few years.

Posted: 8/14/2007 9:07:55 AM EDT

[#25]

Quoted:

Quoted:
My parents house (I'm 16, not a bum

) got reassesed and the deal was if you didn't let them in you got assesed at the highest rate for your street/area, which here in suburban NJ is OBSCENE. Best let them in.

This statement is not true.
The rumor mill is very active where you live.I think you would have a very hard time backing up that statement.

BTW,I live behind enemy lines in The PRNJ too,and yes you are correct we have some of the highest property taxes in the contry.

Well even if the rumor mill is full of shit, our house looks great on the outside but has a whole unfinished 3rd floor that may have saved my parents a couple bucks.

And yes, this state sucks.

Posted: 8/14/2007 9:11:35 AM EDT

[#26]

Quoted:
My parents house (I'm 16, not a bum

) got reassesed and the deal was if you didn't let them in you got assesed at the highest rate for your street/area, which here in suburban NJ is OBSCENE. Best let them in.

Yep, that's pretty much how it works here too. Nobody truly owns the house they live in.

I know some of you thinks it's a rumor, and maybe it is in different states, but where I live I checked into that extensively and found that it was indeed the case. Oh sure, you could try and fight the high assessment, but that's not easy to do.

The thing that is so stupid about all this is that in my community, if you do any work on your house that costs over $200, inside or out, you must get a building permit. So, why do they even need to come in anyway? They should be able to just check the building permits to see if you've added another bathroom, etc. Yet they insist on coming in. Why? Because they assume you are a criminal and want to check and make sure you didn't do any work without a building permit.

Guilty until proven innocent.

Posted: 8/14/2007 9:16:20 AM EDT

[#27]

I've been told that our last re-evaluation was done by aerial photos.

Vulcan94

Posted: 8/14/2007 9:44:15 AM EDT

[#28]

Gotta love California's Prop 13!!!

Posted: 8/14/2007 9:46:10 AM EDT

[#29]

No. No one comes in uninvited or without flashbangs.

Posted: 8/14/2007 9:50:44 AM EDT

[#30]

Quoted:
Gotta love California's Prop 13!!!

Due to Prop 13, couldn't it be possible that a new house purchaser in Compton or Watts would end up with a higher tax bill than somebody with beachview property in Malibu?

Posted: 8/14/2007 9:51:41 AM EDT

[#31]

Quoted:
One of the PERKs in California

we have Prop 13.

If you bought your house in 1990 for $300,000 it's taxed @ 1.2% then and now

The tax stays at that level UNLESS you add on.

If you move to a new house, and your over a certain age (58 I think) and you buy a home of equal or lesser value that you sold your prior home for...you still pay the same tax on your 1990 value.

Unless you move out of your county, AND the county does not recpricate with the other.

If your disabled, you can do this @ any age and any county.

The one and only reason, other than women at the beach, I love the PRK. Live in a $900,000 house and only be taxed on $167K. Sweet.

Posted: 8/14/2007 9:53:22 AM EDT

[#32]

They did a drive-by on me last year. They made a few mistakes, so I asked them to come back, which they did. The value went down about $1K, which reduced my taxes a little. I'm in FL.

Posted: 8/14/2007 9:53:22 AM EDT

[#33]

Assessors work strictly by remote control here unless you get into a dispute with them.

Tax amounts are capped at 1% of assessed value, which is set as the sales price when property changes hands. Thereafter, the taxable value of property may increase annually by no more than the rate of inflation or two percent, whichever is less.

All assessors have to do here is watch sales and send out bills.

www.caltax.org/research/prop13/prop13.htm

Quoted:
...Due to Prop 13, couldn't it be possible that a new house purchaser in Compton or Watts would end up with a higher tax bill than somebody with beachview property in Malibu?

Yes, it's called "gentrification".

Posted: 8/14/2007 3:15:06 PM EDT

[#34]

My county here in Delaware has NOT been reassessed in twenty years. County Council just keeps increasing the rate on the old appraisal.

Posted: 8/14/2007 3:28:05 PM EDT

[#35]

Never let them in myself. They might find out I have a basement.

My taxes are under $800 a year, I fight them every step of the way.

Posted: 8/14/2007 3:42:41 PM EDT

[#36]

Been in my current house for 6 years and have never seen one. I've made many improvements inside since then so there's no way I'm giving them a peek at what I've done

Posted: 8/14/2007 3:42:59 PM EDT

[#37]

Here in TX it's a competition. They raise everyone's too much and every one contests it. Then they knock most of it off.

One of my coworkers moved here last year. He was like "THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS!" We asked if he contested it yet. "You can do that!?!" Sure!

Next week he said they knocked most of the increase off.

Posted: 8/14/2007 3:45:52 PM EDT

[#38]

Quoted:
No. No one comes in uninvited or without flashbangs.

Damn Straight!

I close all of the window curtains too. Our assholes here like to look into windows when it's tax assessor season here...

Posted: 8/14/2007 5:32:54 PM EDT

[#39]

Quoted:
People don't know the meaning of 'high property taxes' until you've lived in NJ for a few years.

Texas has high propery tax. NJ has it worse?

Posted: 8/14/2007 5:56:33 PM EDT

[#40]

I invited mine in and he refused. I think it was because I had just got done unloading 2 mags through a ruger 22/45 in the basement as he was walking up. I walked upstairs and started opening windows and noticed him standing outside. He was acting very nervous when I went out to talk to him

Posted: 8/14/2007 6:56:54 PM EDT

[#41]

Quoted:

Quoted:
People don't know the meaning of 'high property taxes' until you've lived in NJ for a few years.

Texas has high propery tax. NJ has it worse?

MONTGOMERY, N.J. (AP) — Barbara Lehman has lived in this central New Jersey community for 30 years, but her time here is nearing an end.

She sent her children through Montgomery's well-regarded schools. And she enjoys the rolling landscape even as housing developments have spread across it in recent years.

But her property taxes have climbed 56% since 2000 to a knee-buckling $14,000 a year — a heavy load for a high school French teacher whose salary goes up only about 3% a year.

"Oh, it's terrible," Lehman said.

Despite efforts by governors and lawmakers to do something about it, New Jersey has the highest property taxes in America — a burden that is alarming young couples and retirees alike and deepening public cynicism in a state with a long and rich history of graft and self-dealing.

The average property owner in the Garden State pays about $6,000 a year in property taxes, twice the national average.

A recent analysis by The New York Times found property taxes increased two to three times faster than personal income from 2000 to 2004 in the suburbs surrounding New York City. New Jersey's booming Somerset County — where Montgomery is situated — got slammed harder than anywhere else in the region, with property taxes climbing 41% there while income increased but 5%.

Susan Horowitz and her husband just marked their 30th year in Montgomery, but they are unsure how long they will be staying. Both are retired teachers who have watched their property taxes nearly double since 2000 to about $12,500 per year.

"I look at my pension as paying my property taxes," Horowitz said. "We love living here and as long as we can afford the taxes — because we've paid off our mortgage — we'd like to stay here, but we just don't know."

The burden is blamed on a number of factors, including New Jersey's inordinately heavy reliance on property taxes. Property taxes are used to cover most county, municipal and school operations. They account for about 50% of taxes collected in the state, compared with a national average of about 30%.

In addition, because of state budget woes, most New Jersey municipalities and schools have gone five straight years without an increase in their state aid. During that time, property taxes statewide have risen, on average, 7% a year.

Many also pin the blame on the way many of New Jersey's 566 cities and towns insist on having their own schools, police departments, public works crews and the like, instead of consolidating services with those of other communities to reduce administrative costs.

Somerset County, for example, has 21 municipalities. Densely populated Bergen County, just across the Hudson River from New York City, has a staggering 70.

Some lawmakers are looking into merging school systems and municipalities but are likely to run into resistance from local officeholders if they try to force the issue.

Another reason for high property taxes: State and local government owe billions per year to the state's public employee pension system, which has been riddled by abuses.

Also, by court order, the state must send huge chunks of school aid to struggling urban schools, meaning less money is available for middle-class districts.

Somerset County is about an hour's drive west of New York City and has gone through explosive growth over the past two decades as the ring of commuter communities extends farther and farther west.

Its population has ballooned from about 200,000 people in 1980 to nearly 300,000, and it boasts giant new housing developments and brand-new schools. Its winding two-lane highways now get clogged during rush hour.

Somerset ranks as the seventh-wealthiest county in the country with a per capita income of $37,970, according to Census figures. Many Somerset County residents commute to New York; others work in Somerset County or close by at several big pharmaceutical companies, including Johnson & Johnson.

Much of its property taxes go toward the building of schools to accommodate the boom in population.

Lehman paid $2,500 a year in property taxes when she moved to Montgomery in 1976. By 2000, her taxes had reached about $9,000.

"I will miss it, but I'm moving somewhere where my taxes are a little lower," said Lehman, who plans to move to Long Beach Island.

Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine and the Legislature are trying to provide some relief. They plan to spend the rest of the year considering ways to cut state reliance on property taxes.

But Lehman and others are not convinced help is coming.

Phyllis Beal, a psychiatric social worker who has seen her property taxes in the Somerset County community of Franklin increase 50% since 2000, said: "Our legislators are so beholden to special interests in every direction."
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

I live in a county that borders Somerset....

We pay (easily) 10K a year.

Posted: 8/14/2007 7:00:17 PM EDT

[#42]

I've never seen them. I don't think they even come out, they just raise the value the maximum allowed by law to get more revenue.

Posted: 8/14/2007 7:03:33 PM EDT

[#43]

Quoted:
They can walk the outside all they want, but they cannot come inside, and they never ask.

They are touchy around here, they dont like it when you approach them on your place and ask them what is going on. They back up and say TAX ASSESSOR, I say Hey glad to meet you, have a nice day... They really take alot of abuse.

i held one at not only K-9 point 9 ( a ScHIII 105lb GSD) i also held him at the barrel of a winchester sluggun.

he had no ID..crappy clothes and a beater white century with no ID on the vehicle.

that was an interesting afternoon.

he was scared..then cocky...then really scared. as i worked the dog closer and closer.

BTW..
i locked him in the back yard..while he was back there. then let the dog out.

TPD came out..yadayadayada....

Posted: 8/14/2007 7:07:56 PM EDT

[#44]

They will enter only if they have a warrant.

No warrant....no invite.... no enter! Simple.

Posted: 8/14/2007 7:09:31 PM EDT

[#45]

Quoted:
In Florida they don't come inside.

And they might get interrogated if they don't have permission to be in the yard.

Posted: 8/14/2007 7:39:22 PM EDT

[#46]

Quoted:
They will enter only if they have a warrant.

No warrant....no invite.... no enter! Simple.

That's what I was thinking...
Wouldn't a warrant be required?

Posted: 8/14/2007 11:56:04 PM EDT

[#47]

In CA that's not a problem we have this interesting thing called Prop 13. No visits, etc. No horrendous raises in assessments.

I'm glad you guys in some of those free states don't have the nasty property tax issues we have.

Posted: 8/14/2007 11:58:09 PM EDT

[#48]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Nope.

trimmed

Yes, NJ has awful propety taxes...second only to CA, MA and RI.

<<sigh>>

Another idiot comment about CA by a know-nothing. What makes you think (using the word incorrectly because obviously you didn't think) CA has high property taxes?

Posted: 8/15/2007 1:34:47 AM EDT

[#49]

'Had a hydro inspector show up at my door back when my house was brand new... The builder still had a few little things to finnish up, but the house was perfectly livable..
the guy said he had to do come in to finish up his inspection...
He seemed shocked when I asked him for some ID.. he was wearing a hard hat and "looked" like a building inspector, but.... No ID card.

I denied him entry

A few days later another guy showed up .... He had ID so I let him in and all was well

Posted: 8/15/2007 3:50:49 AM EDT

[#50]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Quoted:
Nope.

trimmed

Yes, NJ has awful propety taxes...second only to CA, MA and RI.

<<sigh>>

Another idiot comment about CA by a know-nothing. What makes you think (using the word incorrectly because obviously you didn't think) CA has high property taxes?

Well thank you for calling me an IDIOT know nothing.

CofC violation much PaDanby????

What it was, was a slip....I meant CT as in CONNECTICUT
Report

Maine has since been replaced by MA...A local report on a local station claims we three NEW ENGLAND states and NJ are the highest in the nation.

I'm terribly freaking sorry to have gotten your ass in a freaken twist enough for you to call me names like a child does in the schoolyard over a freaken type O.

You owe me an apology. IM sent.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Do you allow your tax assessors access to your home? (Page 1 of 2)

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