Appealing Your Property Appraisal

After looking at my Property Appraisal for taxes my eyes poped out, the value went up on my home! This was not right.. I know I lost value. It was time to take on the County Assessor ........ State Board of Equalization



HOW TO APPEAL for Phoenix AZ

January 1 is the property valuation date for the following tax year. The County Assessor must mail the Notice of Value card to you no later than March 1. The assessor's opinion of the market value of the property is indicated on the postcard as "Full Cash Value". The assessor's determination of the use of the property is reflected in the legal classification as indicated on the postcard. A.R.S.§§ 42-11001 , 15101,15102 ,15103. and Title 42, Chapter 12, articles 1, 2, 3, and 4. Your Right To Appeal
If you believe the "Full Cash Value" is greater than the market value of the property - or that the legal classification is incorrect - you have two methods of appeal: Administrative or Judicial. A.R.S.§§ 42-15104,16051, 16201.


You may appeal the "Full Cash Value" or legal classification to the County Assessor where your property is located. This is the first step of the Administrative Process. Steps for this process are outlined below. A.R.S.§ 42-16051

OR You may file a petition directly with the Tax Court at any time after receiving the Notice of Value, provided you do not file an administrative appeal - but you must file it no later than December 15. This is the Judicial Process. You are responsible for expenses such as filing fees. A.R.S.§§ 42-16201 , 16202 , 16203 , 16204 , 16205 .

Administrative Process

Step 1
File a petition with the County Assessor. The filing deadline is printed on the Notice of Value card. You must file your appeal within 60 days after the card was mailed to you. A.R.S.§ 42-16051 D.

Step 2
You may request a meeting with the County Assessor's office - or submit written evidence that supports your appeal. The assessor must consider, decide, and answer all requests on or before August 15. A.R.S.§§ 42-16054 , 16055,

If you reach an agreement, no further appeal is permitted. A.R.S.§ 42-16056.

Step 3
If you do not agree with the assessor's decision, you may file a petition with the Board of Equalization for that county. The petition must be filed within 25 days of the date the assessor's decision was mailed to you. However, you may decide to bypass the Board and appeal directly to the Tax Court within 60 days. A.R.S.§§ 42-16056, 16157, 16201.

Step 4
If you are not satisfied with the Board of Equalization's decision, you may appeal to the Tax Court. Be sure to file your appeal no later than 60 days after the Board of Equalization decision is mailed to you. A.R.S.§§ 16168, 16203 .


Notice of Change Appeals
Individuals may file an appeal pursuant to A.R.S.§ 15105, supplemental notice of appeal of valuation in case of new construction, additions, deletions, splits, consolidations or change in use. These appeals are filed directly to the Board within 25 days after the the date of the assessor's notice.


Notice of Proposed Correction and Taxpayer Notice of Claim Appeals
These appeals are for correction of prior tax year records. Property owners may file an appeal to the Assessor pursuant to A.R.S.§42-16252 Assessor Notice of Proposed Correction or A.R.S. §42-16254 Taxpayer Notice of Claim within the time limits specified in the statutes. After the appeal to the County Assessor individuals may file an appeal to the County Board of Equalization or State Board of Equalization. The appeal must be filed on a form DOR82179C Petition for Review of Proposed Correction or DOR82179C-1 Petition For Review of Taxpayer Notice of Claim. File the form along with a copy of the original form DOR82179A Notice of Proposed Correction or form DOR 82179B Taxpayer Notice of Claim. Be sure to include a copy of the Assessor's decision if available. These appeals are filed directly to the Board. If filed electronically, the taxpayer must submit the requested hard copies by mail or in person.

Electronic Filing/E-Filing
Individuals may file an electronic petition according to the rules above for manual filing, but without having to mail in a form, by filling out an electronic filing via this web site. Make sure you understand the rules and the deadlines and then click here to start an individual e-filing .

Agents filing large amounts of petitions or individuals submitting many tax filings may also talk to the SBOE about sending in a bulk database filing.

Petitions rejected by the Assessor cannot be e-filed to the Board. When filing a petition that has been rejected by the Assessor, mail or deliver the original filing in addition to attaching the required information to correct the deficiencies. Petitions rejected by the Assessor for the second time must include the original of the second rejection. Petitions rejected by the Assessor after June 15 are filed directly to the Board.

Moving on a Budget

If you're one of the approximately 50 million Americans moving this year, you probably don't want to spend a fortune to get from point A to point B. With a little planning ahead, it's possible to execute a do-it-yourself move without breaking the bank.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, about 16 percent of all moves are work-related -- moving to find a new job or to be closer to a current job. Whatever your reason for moving, you don't have to pay a company to pack up your belongings and transport them to your new home. Here are some easy ways to move yourself and stay on budget:

* If you need to rent a truck or trailer, especially if you only have a few large items that can't fit into your vehicle, check out your local big box retail hardware store. They often rent trucks and trailers by the hour at a fraction of the cost of renting from a moving company.

* Collect free boxes from friends, family and from local grocery and liquor stores. Save old newspapers to wrap valuables in instead of purchasing expensive rolls of bubble wrap.

* Plug in the refrigerator at your new place a day or two ahead of time. Pack frozen and perishable foods in a cooler with ice packs and unpack that food into your new fridge first. Having your food melt or go bad means an additional, and expensive, trip to the grocery store.

* Pick up change of address forms, free of charge, from the post office. Request a free "welcome kit" from the local chamber of commerce in your new community. These kits contain valuable information and often include money saving coupons for local businesses.

* Pack wisely and avoid filling boxes so much that they're too heavy for you to lift without help. You'll get more done with each person carrying their own box.

* Clear a path. Before you lift a load, make sure you've got a clear path to your destination. You won't be able to see well or move obstacles out of your way once the load is in your arms.

* Use the right tools for the job. Hand trucks can be rented inexpensively and should be used to transport multiple boxes at once or smaller items of furniture. Remember that hand trucks are not good for moving items up or down stairs and are difficult to maneuver around tight turns. For large pieces of furniture, appliances, stairs and tight spaces, try the Shoulder Dolly, an ergonomically designed, patented harness system that allows users to lift with their legs and safely pick up virtually any heavy or bulky item in the home (www.ShoulderDolly.com).

Working in two-person teams, users simply strap into the Shoulder Dolly, slip the carrying strap under the item to be lifted, and then use their leg muscles to lift the weight. By using your legs (your strongest muscles), the Shoulder Dolly significantly decreases the strain and risk of injury to your lower back, hands, biceps and forearms.

* Don't end up in the hospital. When lifting a load, keep your back straight and bend your knees. Keep your head up and look straight ahead to ensure your back remains perpendicular to the ground. Hold the object securely and use the large, powerful leg muscles to lift the weight. Avoid twisting or turning at the waist when lifting. Turn your entire body by moving your hips first, which will force your shoulders to stay in line.

If you are interested in Buying a property or having a Sold Sign on your property Please Contact Linda

10 Signs to the Bottom of Real Estate Markets

The bottom of each real estate market in America won’t occur with much fanfare. In fact, few people will realize that it’s even happening when they do, and they’re usually only recognized after the bottom has already hit.

The search for the elusive bottom to any real estate market is akin to finding the proverbial needle in a hay stack. Once they’re fully realized, the elevator is usually on the way up and higher prices follow.

Bottoms to real estate markets are a lot like trying to determine when stocks in financial markets are at their lowest price. Veteran investors say it’s a fool’s game to try to find the bottom to make a buying decision because as you wait, study and calculate the tendency is to over analyze as the market makes its own moves and often leaves you in the lurch.

In these increasingly complicated financial times, troubled by the credit crunch finding a market’s elusive bottom is no easy task. But here are 10 signs to ponder on whether the bottom of your market is near:

1- The inventory of listings is reducing as properties come off the market, especially those over priced places that have been sitting on the market rotting. Noticing fewer for sale signs in that neighborhood you’re interested in buying a home or condo in these days?


2- The Mass Media spurs interest with talk of a bottom. Newspapers and
television reporters speculate and ask the experts if a bottom is occurring
like it’s a national real estate market trend when all markets have their
own local bottoms and are scattered over time.

3- Sales volume begins to pick up, slowly at first as pent up buyer demand results in more showings.

4- People are less fearful of the market.

5- People begin to talk about how much money there is to be made investing in real estate again.

6- Increasing telephone calls to realty offices on listings and for sale by
owners.

7- The Fed finishes tinkering with interest rates at least for a while, trying to get a handle on how the markets are moving.

8- People commonly talk about the bottom occurring like it’s a thing of the past with increasing consumer confidence.

9- Prices finally seem to stop dropping.

10- Financing becomes easier to obtain.

There aren’t hard and fast rules to insuring that your real estate market is at the bottom. All bottoms are different after all, but one thing’s sure. The bottom of markets have historically been for a much shorter duration than the top, which is one reason why most property owners are secure in their positions. Statistically, very few real estate buyers make their purchases at the bottom or the top. Most buy some where in between.

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Mortgage Rates Fall to Historic Low’s

Rates on the 30 year mortgages were reduced to their lowest levels on record. This is the second straight week that rates have fell to “Historic Lows”.

Freddie Mac said Thursday that the Average Rates for the 30 year fixed dropped to 4.78% this week, down from 4.85% last week.

This is the lowest lending rate that Freddie has seen since 1971, or when they started the survey. This puts rates down a full point since this time last year.

The low rates have triggered a tidal wave of refinancing activity. The MBA said Wednesday that its “Weekly index climbed 3% for the week on top of a 30% increase from a week ago.”

Lenders however have also tightened lending requirements, so these good rates wont apply if you have bad credit.

For many Loan Shopping/ Home Buyers out there, this should be the question you ask yourself.

Are you still holding off on buying your dream home, because you think prices are still going to continue to drop 5%? Well, you should consider what price money will be at by the time the bottom is clearly in sight for everyone. Will they continue to cut rates when it is obvious that the market is climbing back on its feet?

In other words, is waiting 6 months for prices to drop 5% worth the risk of having rates go back up and costing you more in the long run?
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The REAL Estate Bargain

How to avoid self-proclaimers and find a true real estate bargain.


Mention real estate, or the real estate market in any idle conversation these days and someone is bound to chime in with the latest 'deal' they've heard about or seen. They will immediately compare it against another unseen property, based on size, and regale you with what a 'bargain' it is. 'A one bedroom unit for $49,000, how can you pass that up?' They ask this as if you are simply out of your mind to not jump at it. What they neglect to understand is that a true bargain rarely goes unnoticed, and is always predicated on more than just its own attributes or price.

Without a true market comparison, such a property is only a self-proclaimed bargain. Self-proclaimed bargains are usually little more than hype. The key to finding a bargain is to use market metrics which show the difference between the property you are interested in and the market. Such metrics include property price vs. area median price and the more specific dollar per square foot comparison. As well, there should be consideration towards the neighborhood, amenities, and even how much it may cost to refurbish, if necessary.

Finding drastically price reduced properties can be difficult, particularly with the vast offerings currently on the market. Many online sites, like Craigslist, allow you to list your property, and hype it however you choose; only worsening this situation. Avoid these at all cost! It will take you far to long to research each of these properties and make these comparisons. This is particularly true in the case of foreclosures and short sales, where the legal details are nearly tantamount to the actual property itself. Look instead for sites which offer metric comparisons and detailed market information, along with resources for foreclosure and short sale listings.

Need more help? What most online resources neglect to address is the need for reliable market experts that can help potential buyers understand what these metrics mean in the long run. This is when having a trusted real estate agent on hand makes all the difference. Quality local agents have the most current and detailed information available and can assist you in making the best decision for your needs, budget, and preferences. Also, in the case of foreclosures, we have resources to expedite research on back-taxes, liens, and any other obstacles which may disrupt the sale process. Interested in having an agent help you find a bargain? A qualified CNE Certified Negotiation Expert Linda Wieczorek specializing in your market, working with Investors and 1st Home Buyers.
Please contact me by calling 602-391-8246 or e-mail.

AZPrideProperty has an entire section of our site devoted to foreclosed properties which not only lists foreclosed properties exclusively. This means you can find a bargain on a foreclosed property just as easily as one under normal selling conditions. So you can start loading your cart.