Appealing your Appraisal

An informal guide to appealing your appraisal in Alachua, County, Florida.

Informal: The first and most successful option for appeal of your property value is a meeting with one of our appraisers. In this meeting, you will review the physical information on your property (i.e., Is the property measured correctly and are the correct building materials reflected in our records?) and review sales of other properties and other pertinent information. If you have the time to review our record of sales and information on your property before your appointment, you will feel better prepared and the process will go more quickly. In any case, we encourage you to ask for an appointment if you have questions.

VAB: The Value Adjustment Board is the next step in the appeal process. However, this procedure is slightly more complex and formal than an informal meeting with one of our appraisers. It is highly recommended that you exhaust the informal approach prior to undertaking this step.

Circuit Court: If you are still not pleased after the VAB, your next step is to file a suit against us in circuit court. This proceeding gets very formal and has a lot of rules. If you are considering this option, you should talk to an attorney.

One last note which applies to all levels of appeal: There is no provision in Florida law for your value to be reduced because of personal hardship or inability to pay. While we definitely empathize with the many difficult personal situations people experience, we cannot lower values because of them. Likewise, what other properties are appraised for is irrelevant in the appeal process. The theory is that two wrongs do not make a right. If you point out that someone else is too low, our correct response is to raise the other person, not lower your property value. Please be prepared to talk about your market value. Market value and the exemptions are the only place in the process where we have any control.

You CAN Fight City Hall!

Contesting Your Property Tax Appraisal

If your property taxes are skyrocketing, there is more you can do about it than complain. Studies indicate that property taxes are doubling at the rate of inflation this decade even while American homes have on average lost between 40% to 50% of their values, especially in hard-hit areas like Florida.

The National Taxpayers Union estimates that 60% of U.S. properties are “overvalued,” but only one out of 50 homeowners ever appeals their property tax increases. But contesting your property taxes is easier than you think.

Get your documents together – When you do contest your property tax appraisal (usually via a package sent to your county tax board, tax assessor, and, in some cases, via a face-to-face meeting with your local property tax/appraiser’s office) come armed and ready. Hunt on sites like Zillow.com, the real estate section of your local paper, or through a trusted real estate professional to find current and recent home sales values in your neighborhood. Find as many neighborhood sales as possible, but definitely aim for at least three home sales (the lower the sale prices, the better). Your local assessor’s office should also have the property appraisals for homes in your neighborhood – they should come across with those documents, but if you have trouble, a good real estate professional is especially useful in this case.

File a protest – Again, most municipalities differ, with some towns stipulating that you only have 14 days from the time of your property tax assessment to appeal, and some may go as high as 60 days. Your town’s tax appraisal office will have the deadline information. When you file your appraisal protest, include any relevant photos of your house or property, the recent sales in your area that bolster your case, and any documents showing lower property tax appraisals on properties similar to your near your house.

You may be surprised how easy it is to get your property tax appraisal downgraded. With a little work you can potentially save thousands by contesting your property appraisal.

So in this case at least, you can fight city hall!