Denise Wambsganss
Realtor
303-880-8771
dwambs@msn.com







Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Property Assessments are in the mail

Many of my friends have been asking me about their taxes on their houses and what to do if they think they are too high. Below is an article that should help. If anyone has additional help for people let me know.

Property Assessments are in the mail.
You may want to file a protest if you think your assessment is not accurate. Owners of 5.5 percent of the 2.3 million properties in Colorado filed protests in 2007, a 30 percent jump from 2005. Even more protests are expected this year.
There is no ability in the state of Colorado to protest your property taxes, states the property tax administrator at the Colorado Division of Property Taxation ( JoAnn Groff). What you have the opportunity to do is protest the value of the property.
If you want to file a protest, you need to do it by the June 1st deadline. They can be made by mail or phone, and in some counties via fax, by e-mail, or online.
It is easy to challenge factual errors such as a property’s square footage, the number of rooms, or a supposedly finished basement that is not finished. More challenging is contesting the value assessors have placed on a home, especially in a volatile real estate market.
One of the most common mistakes people make in disputing valuations is to compare the recent sales or appraisals with their property. Assessors review sales over an 18-month period that ended June 30th, 2008. Information after that can’t be in the appeal.
Finding comps can be tricky. One of the key tasks in a protest is using good comparable home-sales numbers. On-line real estate sites have current sales figures to calculate valuations and aren’t very useful. A new website, PropertyTaxSlaxh.com offers Colorado homeowners a free valuation analysis. They charge $49.95 to those who want to lodge a protest with the website’s help. Another However, you can file this complaint on your own as well.
Another helpful website is http://www.denverpost.com/metrorealtysales
This information is from an article in the Denver Post – May 2nd, 2009
I am also a RE Agent so if you have any questions feel free to contact me at dwambs@msn.com

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