I have reviewed all of my property reappraisal notices. To see what I have done previously in this process see here, here and here. Some I can agree with and can see the logic behind the valuation while others I simply cannot explain. Some of my properties’ values more than doubled in just one year for example. With others, the value significantly increased while surrounding properties’ values were lowered.
Sometimes the Property Assessor did not even use comparable sales to value my properties. They used “replacement cost,” meaning they added up the cost of the “bricks and mortar” needed to replace the property. Using replacement cost really makes no sense. For example, think of a run down section of your town or city, imagine building a house there using $1 million worth of materials (marble, quartz, gold fixtures, you name it!). Is the home you built worth $1 million, or does location, location, location come into play?
Anyway, I asked for and received an “informal review” of several of my properties’ valuations. This is a process whereby the staff of the Assessor’s office takes a look at the new values. The results of this process were mixed. Some properties were reduced to the old values (yeah!), some were reduced a little bit but not all the way (hmmmm?) and others were left where they were, too high (nope!).
So now we go on and upward with a formal appeal to the Board of Equalization. At the very least, the informal review process reduced the number of formal appeals I need to make, so it is valuable to do. I also must say that the staff of the Assessor’s office was at all times helpful and professional. They returned phone calls (many times), listened to my reasoning and were as helpful as they could be.
If you live in Shelby County, TN the deadline to file is July 31, so be sure and get your paperwork in if you plan on appealing. I plan on appealing several and I will be writing about that here in the future.
