Understanding the building blocks for a successful property assessment tax appeal

emphasizing 2014 Property Assessment change details.

ATTENTION MONMOUTH COUNTY NJ

PROPERTY OWNERS
ASSESSMENT APPEAL APPLICATION DEADLINE

JANUARY 15 2014

(PREVIOUSLY THE DEADLINE WAS APRIL 15)

 

In march 2013, Gov. Christie signed into law chapter 15 P.L 2013 known as Assessment demonstration Program to begin in tax year 2014. The Monmouth board of Taxation and the Monmouth County of Assessors has decided to be the first in the state to take on this cost saving project. Many changes will be put in place over the next FIVE years. 

1. Remember the Assessor is ALWAYS right about your assessment unless you want to lose.
2. Remember that your assessment was created on October 1st of last year. Example October 1st 2012 for the year 2013.
3. Alwys find 3 good reasonable sales and find those closed  sales between January and December of last year. Example 2012 for tax year 2013.
4. Remember NOT to talk about your neighbor's assessment unless you want to lose. 1 strike
5. Rember NOT to mention your own property taxes unless you want to lose. 2 strikes
6. Breaking up your assessment between land and building is a sure way to weaken your case for reduction. 3 strikes
7. While you may not rest on the 7th day, the Assessor does!
8. consider if you are the expert or if you NEED an expert (appraiser etc) . Experts have boundaries and lend credence to the sales.
9. Contrary to what you may think, you may need an Attorney, especially if you are an LLC or Corp. Any and ALL experts MUST be with you at the meeting!
10. Chapter 123 - is a "cautionary tale" of potentially winning the battle but losing the War.
11. Consider filing your appeal and documentation Online.
12. ALWAYS BE CONFIDENT! Do not be distracted and always give an honest courteous response.
13. ALWAYS Direct your remarks and responses to the Commissioner, not necessarily to the Assessor, Attorney or the Representative from the Revaluation company.
14. Always start your testimony by describing you house, land, or building. Example: the style, how many bedrooms, how many baths, basement/no basement, garage/no garage, deck, fireplace, air conditioning, are you on a busy street or not, do you have a water view or are you on the waterfront, the size of your lot - describe the condition of your home in terms of good, average, fair or poor.
15. BE PREPARED to tell the Commissioner in a sentence or two why your Assessment does not represent Market Value.
16. COMPARE and describe the closed comparable Sales you selected ending withthe closed price and date it closed
17. Confidently End with YOUR Opinion of what you believe the value of your property should be based upon your comparable sales information which you presented.