“You shouldn’t have to appeal, they should have to prove before they set the assessment. Good luck.”
I just got off the phone with someone else at the assessors office because I was trying to figure out when my 60 days started.
This guy was very blunt and basically said if you don’t agree you need to file an appeal immediately and go in front of a board that will ultimately decide the value. I asked him if I needed a lawyer and he said it was up to me. He insisted that I needed to come up with the comparable sales that were going to prove my case. I told him that I didn’t think I needed to do that because it was an arm’s length transaction with multiple bidders and that should determine the market value beyond a doubt. He said if I wanted to argue my case that way then it was up to me but reiterated that the board is going to be looking at comparable sales. I have to say the conversation with this guy was refreshing because at least he didn’t beat around the bush.
I am seriously tempted to try and take my story to the media. I think buyers have the right to know that if they buy a REO through the normal real estate process with a buyer’s agent and bidding wars that they are still going to be under a completely different level of scrutiny by the tax assessor. I also think the realtors involved in REOs should have an obligation to disclose this potential problem to buyers. Ironically, this would add further stigma to buying REOs and probably push tax valuations down even further. To be clear we are not talking about chump change here and the additional tax grows exponentially every year.
