Just How Accurate Are Tax Appraisals/Assessments?

Consumer Reports once published a report (November 1992) that revealed that the property tax assessments error rate is upwards of forty percent and The National Tax Payer's Union stated in 2004 that as many as sixty percent of all homes are over assessed. Why is this?

On the whole, most home owners never challenge their tax assessments. If they were to take the time, and invest in a proper appraisal, they would then be in a position to contest their assessment. More times than not, tax appeal settlements in most regions of the country average a thousand dollars or more. If a homeowner were to put that money into a savings account over a period of ten years, at a rate of eight percent, they stand to gain over five-thousand dollars. Would this not offset the cost of an appraisal?

Not a lot of people press their case for appeal with local, municipal or state tax assessors. For those who do, they have had average savings of between five and thirty five percent.

In keeping with the practice of true and accurate appraisals, this type of transparency not only affords you as a home owner savings, but as a seller, it will arm you with one more helpful selling point.

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