mitblinder's Profile
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April 7, 2008
Same Market Value but huge difference in Assessed Value
My property tax situation is complicated and long so I'll just lay out the details. I just bought a 3 family property in Bushwick. My property taxes are based on an assessed value of $30,655 for a Market Value of $600,000. My neighbors have an assessed value of $7,000 (with Market Values around $545,000). However, the difference in taxes is huge. Right now the city requires I pay 4 times more than all my neighbors who have the same house and same market value. The reason this happened is that the city had the property erroneously listed as a class 2A property (6 family/rooming house) for 20 years. The previous owner flipped the house so he doesn't know the origin of the class 2A designation. It was a 3 family when he bought it. When I called the Tax and finance offices I was told I can attend a hearing and plea my case on the grounds of inequality. They weren't very reassuring. When I bought this house I wasn't aware of this problem. The taxes were listed as being $2600, not $4700. I've somewhat created this problem by appealing the buildings class from 2a to 1, thinking it would actually lower my tax bill to be in keeping with the neighboring homes. Does anyone have advice? Been in a similar situation? I'm basically looking for some hope.
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Sorry, don't have the name of attorney we'd hired. Are you still in contact with the attorney who did your closing? He/she might have a recommendation. Otherwise, just google "tax certiorari" +Brooklyn and I'm sure you'll get a ton of names. (or at least I hope so.)
Posted by: guest at April 9, 2008 10:08 AM in response to Same Market Value but huge difference in Assessed Value
Sorry, don't have the name of attorney we'd hired. Are you still in contact with the attorney who did your closing? He/she might have a recommendation. Otherwise, just google "tax certiorari" +Brooklyn and I'm sure you'll get a ton of names. (or at least I hope so.)
Posted by: guest at April 9, 2008 10:15 AM in response to Same Market Value but huge difference in Assessed Value

Thanks for responding.
Karka - I had the assessor already reclassify it. The problem is that it was on the books as a class 2A for so many years and therefor the assessed value has grown at a faster rate than it would have if it had remained a class 1 property.
Guest 11:34 Am - Do you have the name of the lawyer you hired? I spoke to the tax commissions deputy counsel today. He's looking over things and will make a recommendation. However, talking to a lawyer at this point might also be helpful.
Thanks!
Posted by: mitblinder at April 8, 2008 3:17 PM in response to Same Market Value but huge difference in Assessed Value