We received the same kind of veiled threat the only time we talked to the assessor’s office. I think that the next step would be to hire a lawyer and sue. At that point, there is an independent review and to avoid that, the folks doing the assessment may reduce the assessment to avoid a suit.
I think ours actually was reduced in the following assessment even though we didn’t threaten to sue.
Challenging property tax assessments in our area is just a very standard practice. There are tons of law firms that will do it for a small percentage of possible tax savings (they don’t get paid if you don’t get a tax savings).
When my dad built his last home, they watched the square footage because if he went over a specific number, his property taxes would double. The assessor measure the house 3X! Their garage was just slightly bigger than 2 car to keep the numbers down.
I have a funny assessor’s story. I am not sure how this happened, but after we bought a larger home, our assessment went way up. The square footage on the house had been increased??? Dh called the assessor’s office to challenge it. They claimed that the square footage had been previously incorrect on the home. So, we had them come out. This house had a huge two-story, lofted ceiling in the family room. The roof over that part of the house had a very steep pitch. There was a lofted hang out space on the second floor, but that had already been accounted for in the square footage. The builder of this house had lived in it - I’m pretty sure he knew what the square footage was. Anyway, someone from the assessor’s office came out to inspect. I took him up the stairs to the lofted area. “Where is the rest of the second floor?” he asked. Lol. This is ALL that is on the second floor - just this one room. He was looking around as though I were trying to hide part of my house!
We prevailed, and our square footage was reduced to its already accurate correct amount.
I am sure this couple wishes they had sold LAST winter, at top price. Now they just move on.
So many homes will get rebuilt with better hurricane force capability - but the storm surge/flooding with salt water and regular water flooding is where a lot of property damage will take place.
I feel sorry for the couple in the article and many retirees who now have to deal with the aftermath of the storm. Sure, it is just property, and houses can be rebuilt, but for someone 75 years old or older, the time it will take to rebuild could easily equal more than half of their remaining life which they were supposed to enjoy - deservingly, after decades of working hard.
I also feel badly for them. Who knows why they did not sell last winter? No one has a crystal ball telling them what unusual weather phenomena will happen, nor what home prices will be at any given time.
My aunt lost her husband a year ago. They tell you not to make any big decisions the first year.
Her daughter has relocated to the area where her son lives, so my aunt decided to put her house (well prefabricated) on the market.
My aunt sent us pictures. She hadn’t been in the house yet but it looks 
like minimal damage.
We are hoping that it might make the house sell faster now since inventory is more diminished 
It’s hard to decide to sell your house. Lots of reasons why. I feel like I discuss this issue with a lot of my elders. They don’t want to sell, but reluctantly have to. Usually later than sooner.
Similar story. We have a story and half so upstairs under roof line. Assessor must have assumed we finished out second floor, but a large section is walk-in unfinished and I heated attic which doesn’t count for assessment. That knocked out square footage by several hundred square feet
Due to vaulted ceilings, we have a larger first floor. Luckily the official square footage is not inflated. In fact, it shows a few hundred square feet less than our floor plan. Also it shows 1/2 bath on first floor even though it has a shower. We have never corrected it, to avoid tax hike. But… we may have to get that bathroom paperwork corrected since we are considering enlarging our teeny shower. (You are allowed to renovate existing shower, but in our case records don’t include it.) Probably before we sell it someday we should get the square footage corrected.
I do have sympathy, but will also say it’s a choice to remain there or in any hurricane prone area. At least with tornadoes the damage is not so widespread and it usually takes less time for a community to recover.
I loved living in FL and hoped for years that we would return some day. As time went on, we heard more from family and friends about the storm surges that far exceeded what was common decades ago. The inland nursing home where my dad spent the end of his life was flooded during a tropical storm about a decade after he died. It had never previously flooded during hurricanes. The same happened with the assisted living facility in the beach community where my parents used to live. An older brother’s home is nearby and it has flooded multiple times.
Those events, combined with the cost of HO insurance and property taxes, were major reasons why H and I chose not to retire to FL even before we learned we’d be grandparents after all. With what we save on taxes and insurance, we could pay for a very nice vacation in FL instead.
The assessor’s office had a completely wrong floor plan for my house. After getting it (mostly) corrected, my taxes went down by about 10%. The previous owners were overpaying for almost 50 years because they never bothered to check whether the data was correct.
It still overstates finished space by about 200 sq ft and understates the unfinished basement by an equal amount, but at least the basic floor plan is now correct. I tried to get it fixed a while ago, time to follow up on that I guess.
It also can be worthwhile to double-check your homeowner’s insurance.
After a hail storm in 2005, our Allstate policy covered almost the total cost of replacement (changing from old wood shakes no longer allowed by code to asphalt shingles… fine by us). About 10 years later I discovered that we were still paying Allstate a slight premium on our homeowners insurance for a wood shingled roof, due to higher fire risk. Alas, I only got refund for that and prior year. But at least going forward we’ve had the savings.
On the topic of home assessments: I was never quite clear how a tax assessment accounts for wide differences in interior conditions. In our community, tax assessment it is based on general age, lot size, home size, number of rooms, number of bathrooms, exterior construction (and condition), etc. Assessors never see the inside of a home.
But there is a HUGE difference in what homes actually sell for depending on updates. Original homes (built in the 50’s) without updates can sell as low as 280’s.
Fully updated homes can fetch mid 400’s - 500’s! New homes (where originals have been knocked down), can sell between 700 & 1mil! A good appraiser would take all this into account, but the assessor never does.
We have appraisers here that are so conservative/bad, but when we refinanced in Jan - and got a ridiculously low appraisal, the appraisal was still higher than our tax assessment, so our assessment did go up.
So many homes are selling way above market value (that has slowed some, but we are in a high growth area) - including some on our own street. Some purchasers are going to need to have other resources on hand if limited on their home mortgage by appraisal. However if they need an appraisal for the loan - IDK how some appraiser is going to go higher - they may ‘work’ a little harder to find ‘comps’ more in line with the selling price.
In our area, appraisals lag the true market value, and it has been so at least since the 2008/2009 situation. They also do not want to break out of $ per square foot, no matter how upscale the home is on materials used/vast upgrades.
After a kitchen remodel, our township assessor actually came inside to look at it. I told her that she could see for herself that my upgrade was not exactly a luxury redo. I also told her that I would love for her to go downstairs to see the “finished basement” that has been part of our assessment since before we moved in 36 years ago … partially finished, plywood bifold doors to hide particle board shelving on one wall, crappy paneling look walls, and the cheapest linoleum they could buy … and we get to pay extra tax just like if we had the kind of finished basement that would raise the value of our home were we to sell it. The assessor doesn’t care that the remodeling isn’t fancy. The fact that it was updated is all they care about.
In my sister’s area in IA, if the basement doesn’t have a finished ceiling, it is not considered a finished basement. So that is what they have. They only used the downstairs bedroom for a few of son’s college years over summers, and they also have a play room set up for the grandkids downstairs. Her laundry area is downstairs as well. She believes when she no longer wants to go downstairs for laundry, she will sacrifice a closet and put in a combination washer/dryer. Their home is just two bedrooms and one bath on main level.
I have been thinking on this. Certainly the interior upgrades and conditions should be considered for a home sale appraisal. For a property tax appraisal, I’m still undecided… perhaps simple size / features stats make sense.
Tax appraisers use only the square feet, number of rooms (bed rooms, baths), etc. They do not consider condition or age or status of plant. So the same house with an old roof, HVAC system, etc. is appraised for taxes at the same rate. The one good thing about this is that when you replace and upgrade these items, you don’t need to be reappraised and your taxes don’t go up. Imagine the hassle for a town, if every time somebody put in a new roof or a new hot water tank they had to reappraise the property.