By: Evor VattuonecloseAuthor: Evor Vattuone Name: Evor Vattuone
Member: Member Paladin
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Email: evor@aspire.biz
Site: http://paladinregistry.com/external/beaninformedinvestor/advisor_profile.php?advisor_id=2758
About: See Authors Posts (3) | December 14, 2009 | Investor Information

I’ve lately been receiving solicitations from very official looking companies stating that they’ll reduce your property tax bills…as long as you fill in personal information and send a check for several hundred dollars. I live in California, so we’re no strangers to greatly reduced property values. Naturally, reducing your property taxes, often by significant amounts, is a real possibility, and should be researched by homeowners.
However, you do not need to spend any money to lower your property taxes – that is – if they haven’t been reduced already by your county’s assessor’s office. In CA, we have Proposition 8, which was passed by CA voters in 1978 and provides a reduction in assessed values when the Proposition 13 value of a property exceeds the actual market value.

All you really need to do is wait until March of each year, and send in the Prop 8 request form, that’s attached to the back of a Prop 8 brochure. According to the assessor himself, his office will research your property’s value and adjust its tax basis if necessary. Why wait until March? The assessor’s office does their audits of property values starting in October, and ending in March. So, March will give you the most likely chance of getting a favorable assessment (as long as values have declined).

The other thing the solicitation does not state is that your property taxes can climb back up to original Prop 13 tax basis values at whatever rates the market is appreciating. For example, if property values suddenly rise by 20% in the year, your property taxes can also rise 20%, as long as they don’t exceed your original Prop 13 assessed rates.
Finally, once these firms acquire your personal data, don’t think for a minute they won’t sell it away to any and all seekers of such information!

In sum, don’t waste your time or money on solicitations claiming to reduce your property taxes…it’s just another way to separate you from your money.