Uncategorized July 9, 2013

E-appealing Your Property Tax Valuation

You may have recently received a little, white post card in the mail from the King County Assessor’s office: OFFICIAL PROPERTY TAX NOTICE.  Were you shocked at the new value? After declining for several years, values are now increasing, a reflection of what’s happening in the market. Property tax valuations typically lag behind the market and don’t generally reflect true market value. They do, however, set the value of the property that is used to determine how much property tax you will owe the following year.

Think your property is overvalued based on what you’ve seen selling in your neighborhood?  There is a new, online way to appeal to the King County Board of Equalization (BOE).  Go to www.kingcounty.gov/eappeals.

The site has some great tools for looking at comparables.  There is a step-by-step process to figure out if it’s even worth the effort of appealing.  Check out the You Tube video for instructions:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3fq83SCNCo#at=16

And here’s what the Seattle Times is saying about the process:  http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2021192964_assessorxml.html

Also, we found the “Area Report” (one of the options at the top of the page) very interesting. It describes what went into the assessment process for your specific neighborhood.

Need more information on comparables or the process? Give us a call or email – we’re happy to help!