Should
I Have Appealed My Assessment?
Property
values throughout much of the region skyrocketed over the past decade.
When property assessments came out this past year, many of the assessments
reflected those skyrocketing prices. Within the past two years, however,
some of those sale prices have leveled off. There is a concern in
some cases that when prices leveled off, the assessments kept rising.
If
you feel that your property was assessed too high, it is possible
to appeal that assessment. The deadline has passed this year, but
should you feel bad if your assessment came out this year and you
didn't appeal it?
There
are several factors that come into play when determining if an appeal
is necessary. First of all, every owner-occupied residential property
in Maryland is allowed a homestead credit on their property assessment
(see our article on that). This
means that your taxable assessment cannot increase by more than 10%
a year (less in some counties - Baltimore County's cap is 4%). If
you purchased your property before prices started skyrocketing, your
taxable assessment probably has not. In that case, even if you win
your appeal and successfully argue that the assessed value should
be lowered, the amount of the assessment that you pay taxes on probably
won't change.
Cases
where the assessment may matter would be when be when someone purchased
their home in the middle of the real estate boom, and especially if
they purchased it towards the end of the boom. In these cases, the
property will be assessed at close to the price they purchased the
property for. If the property value has gone down, an appeal would
be a good idea.
One
other possible argument for an appeal is if a homeowner has their
house on the market, or if they are planning on selling in the near
future. A successful appeal could lower the next tax bill for the
buyer, who will start at the current assessed value, and that could
make the house more marketable.
