Appealing your Charlottesville Area Real Estate Tax Assessment

Many of the counties locally release their new real estate tax assessments in January. Many have a 30 day period following that release, when you can appeal your assessment if you feel that your tax value is too high.  There are certainly pro’s and con’s of appealing your tax assessment. Don’t know your current tax assessment? Email me and I am happy to send it to you!

If successful, you will save money on taxes, the obvious and short-term “pro”. That being said, if you are considering selling your home in the next 2-3 years, appealing your assessment, and lowering your tax value could be detrimental. Many buyers will look to a tax assessment to help guide their opinion of value when determining what they’d be willing to pay for a home, so the lower it is, the more of a battle you fight in negotiations! If you are unsure whether it makes sense to appeal or not, please give me a call and I will be happy to advise! In fact, if you ARE planning to list your home for sale soon, I do NOT recommend appealing your assessment, so PLEASE call me first!

On the other hand, if you are planning to be in your home for several more years, and you feel that your home is improperly assessed (and your being taxed well above the value of your home) it may easily be a worthwhile pursuit!

In order to appeal your assessment there are a couple of things to be mindful of;

1. You must do it during the correct window of time! In 2012, this window was roughly 2/1/2012 – 3/1/2012 in the City and County- just after assessments were released.
2. You must provide recent comparable sales as evidence for the appeal. From what I’ve been told, it’s been tough to have an assessment changed in both areas in the past couple of years, so these numbers will need to be clear and must present a strong argument in your favor. I am always happy to help you with this and provide the data you need, so please do not hesitate to call.