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Health & Fitness

St. Louis Real Estate Tip of the Week: Property Tax Assessed Value Appeal

Its tax reassessment time, post cards coming from the Assessor's Office, check online for your property value! Even if your value has not raised, you may have comps to appeal for a value reduction?

2013 is a reassessment year for your property values.  The Assessor’s Office and their appraisers establish value for each property in their jurisdiction.  If your property is scheduled for an increased evaluation and thus an increased property tax, you will be getting a post card from the Assessor’s Office between mid-April to early May.

The tip of the week is:  Be proactive!  Do not wait for the county to mail you a post card.  Rather go online now to the Assessor’s office to get information on your property. Access the St. Louis County website here.  It’s important to check now, as the notices may come the day before the informal assessment conferences start.  The Assessor’s Office has appraisers or trained personnel to meet with you informally, from the end of April to early June.  These slots fill quickly, so act now.

Some properties may not be getting an increase, but, perhaps, you have reason to believe that your property should be adjusted to a lower value due to the sales in your neighborhood in the past year.

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This month, I attended an event, which featured the Assessors from St. Louis, St. Charles and Jefferson Counties, and St. Louis City.  Scott Shipman, St.Charles County Assessor explained that the tax bill is not just from the assessor.  “St. Rather, most don’t understand that the Assessor’s Office is a distribution point for taxes for the benefit of various entities.” The numerous governmental agencies such as fire, library and ambulance set and submit their tax rate to the assessor’s office, “The County is only the agent for these other entities, and they distribute the tax burden.” Shipman explained.

The Assessor’s Office is responsible to provide an assessed value of a property in order to calculate real estate taxes.  It’s their responsibility to determine the value of your property based on qualified sales.  Shipman further explained that “a qualified sale is one that meets criteria of a fair market evaluation.”  This qualified process will be discussed in next week’s blog.

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Shipman advises “homeowners to be cautious of using valuation services.  For a fee, these services offer to help consumers determine if they are overpaying their property tax bill because their property is overvalued.”  "In many cases, the information presented by these companies is generated without regard to important aspects such as location of property, size, architectural type, condition, lot size, etc.," said Shipman.

Rather, I suggest that you consult a Realtor® who sells in your neighborhood that is more likely to be familiar with the interior conditions of the comparable sales within a radius of your home.

St. Louis County has nearly 380,000 properties to assess according to St. Louis County assessor representative, David Godar and St. Louis City has about 150,000 properties according to Ed Buschmeyer, St. Louis City Assessor.  Thus, the county has far more assessment appeals.

Terry L. Roesch, Assessor for Jefferson County reported that his county had 110,000 parcels. Roesch also indicated that “Jefferson County does not use the Certificate of Value upon sale.”  This practice is unlike the other three counties who will not record a deed without a C of Value.

In my next blogs, I am will discuss how the assessor’s office determines your fair market value, the steps for you to file for an appeal, how to get property comps for your appeal, the six different appeal processes that you can take action on and how to utilize the services of a professional Realtor® to assist you in the appeals process.

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Beverly Taki is a Missouri-licensed real estate broker who has successfully represented clients for 25 years.  She is a broker salesperson at Keller Williams Realty St Louis. 10936 Manchester Road, St. Louis, MO   63122. Beverly has earned a certificate in dispute resolution from Pepperdine University, specializing in negotiation and mediation. Taki can be reached at beverlytaki@kw.com or 314-677-6366.  Her website is beverlytakistlouis.com.

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