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Appealing property taxes - an exercise in futility

Contributed by: Scott Savage on 11/5/2007

Look at the picture. Doesn't it look like my property value went up $21,000 ?

Nevermind that I couldn't even sell my house for what I had paid for it a year earlier.

Nevermind that they only compared my house to homes with full basements, a $30,000 upgrade that I didn't opt for.

Nevermind that 4 of 10 homes directly behind mine are actually in foreclosure and have dropped in value by $200,000 (or more) during the same period.

The assessors have taken all that into consideration -- or so they say. To the Douglas County Assessors -- our property values always go up, right?

Just like goverment pay raises ??

This picture was taken 6 days before the 6/30/2006 assessment date for Douglas County ... and the first of 5-6 serious flooding episodes for me and my neighbors. The current assessment is supposed to represent our home value on that date, not today's date.

This problem took over 13 months to resolve, but the point is -- the value of my property on 6/30/2006 was a decrease,and NOT an increase. No sane person would have bought my home considering the flood conditions and creamy peanut butter of mud my back yard had become.

I wasn't sure whether to sell the house or call the city and ask for help. On 6/30 -- I was pretty sure that I had myself a lemon and no sane person would have bought my home for anything other than a extreme lowball offer.

There were 3 other reasons with my home was improperly assessed as well. I never did get an response or answer from the assessors to my questions -- they apparently just wanted me to roll over and pay more, even though my house isn't worth more.

I'm convinced its more about giving the pubic the 'perception of fairness' than about actually being fair.

I first appealed to the Douglas County assessor using the electronic appeals process. I provided reasons and examples to support a different (lower) assessed valuation.

The result of this was a long wait and a quick "denied" letter from the County Assessor. No reasons given, no questions answered, just a denied form letter.

Next, I put together an extensive packet of reasons and pictures to support my arguments and mailed these all off "certified mail" to the CBOE (County Board of Equalization).

In early September, I had my CBOE meeting, which consisted of going down into the basement of the Douglas County building and meeting with a supposedly "unbiased" person and a county assessor staff member. The first thing the person said is -- "I haven't read your documents or pictures -- so please summarize to me verbally here in a few minutes."

It was also clear that the supposedly "objective person doing most of the talking knew the assessors very well and probably worked in the same building. Talk about unfair situations.

Long story stort ... I made my case and felt extremely confident that my home value could not have appreciated at all and nobody would have bought it consideringthe flooding and otherissues.

The assessor had nothing more to offer than 'here are the comps I used' ... and they all were flawed and I explained why -- but perhaps nobody was actually listening?

So I waited another month and they mailed me aone page form letter with a "your request was denied". Wow, was that a waste of time and money.

Who am I to tell the assessor that might be wrong? Why should they have to give me a single reason why I am wrong and they are right? Why couldn't they even read my reasons that they asked me for?

Because -- we are DOUGLAS COUNTY ASSESSORS -- and we are always right, apparently.

So I can say that this process is extremely flawed, time consuming and futile. The next step for me is to take my appeal to the state District Court, which I plan on doing.

Of course the web site is currently down ... but if/when the web site comes back up ... I will fill out another set of forms and reasons ... and hope that somebody reads my reasons and gives me a real consideration.

I had read elsewhere that you should just skip the CBOE and go strait to district count ... and now I can see why they reccomended this.

Going in for a CBOE meeting, into county cubicles for an awkward meeting with people not even interested in reading your own reasons ... was a pure waste of time and money.

This really felt like this meeting was akin to meeting with the fox to discuss the henhouse. And it was.

Scott


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Showing 1-6 of 6 comments
Submitted By: Scott Savage
posted on 1/23/2008 @ 8:45:54 AM
(Not Rated)
Update: according to zillow.com on 1/22/2008 ... my property is now worth LESS than I paid for it back in 9/2005. And I just got my property tax bill from Douglas County for the INCREASE. This proves the system is broken.
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Submitted By: Scott Savage
posted on 11/30/2007 @ 10:51:01 AM
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I also found an article in Builder Online magazine, dated June 1, 2006 ... just 29 days before the latest assessment date, where they said: "Buyers could get up to $75,000 off on select D.R. Horton models at Sapphire Point in Castle Rock." ... but yet, MY home still was worth more! source: http://www.builderonline.com/industry-news.asp?sectionID=31&articleID=322674
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Submitted By: Scott Savage
posted on 11/8/2007 @ 4:15:39 PM
(Not Rated)
They said they took the foreclosures into account ... but the foreclosures near me aren't even selling, even at the firesale prices that the banks are trying to sell them at. What they miss is that there is a reason why no other homes similar to mine are selling. The homes behind me are covered with erosion control silt fences and other control structures which are undesirable. Nobody wants to buy them with these problems ... unless the price equals a huge loss (for the banks). So far, the price hasn't been lowered enough yet. One exception is a home that was selling for 1,070,000 and recently came back on the market (after foreclosure) for $750,000 ... a huge drop and significantly below the assessed value of around $1,000,000.
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Submitted By: Scott Savage
posted on 11/8/2007 @ 4:14:38 PM
(Not Rated)
Thanks all. I feel the problem is that they only use comps from the study period (in 2006) and none of the comps had any remotely similar flooding issues to make them comparable. It is very hard (for them) to get an accurate read on a lot specific problem or sitation affecting property value ... when the whole system of assessment seems based on averages. That should work fine, assuming I had no special circumstances or problems to be considered. They don't seem to have a special situation consideration path.
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Submitted By: Barbara Neff
posted on 11/7/2007 @ 3:31:45 PM
Rated Story
I feel your pain, Scott. Don't homes in foreclosure count as "comps"? Are there records of distress sales within a few blocks of you recently? If they want comps, I'd give them comps that proved my case. Good luck.
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Submitted By: Joseph Kirchmer
posted on 11/5/2007 @ 3:21:05 PM
Rated Story
Very well written Scott. Thanks for the column!
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Showing 1-6 of 6 comments
CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Scott Savage

Castle Rock , CO

Scott Savage has posted 2 stories and 13 comments since joining on 7/20/2006. Scott Savage's average story rating is 5.
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