Property Tax Re-assessment
I plan to seek a re-assessment of my property taxes through the Dept of Finance. Has anyone ever undergone this process and can let me know what to expect? I think a deduction in my taxes is warranted considering I live in Bed-Stuy and pay over $3600 a year in taxes. Isn’t this how much folks in Fort Greene and Park Slope pay? My last assessment was based on the price I paid for my home in 2009. Shouldn’t the property tax be commensurate with what my neighbors are paying? Thanks for the insight! #Newhomeownerstilllearningtheropes
sobrooklyn
in Taxes 13 years and 3 months ago
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3 replies
Bklnite | 13 years and 3 months ago
Much of the relevant info is there on the notice of value that was mailed in January and you can look up from the finance dept on nyc.gov.
Your market value should be commensurate with your Bed-Stuy neighbors’ market values (not PS or Ft Greene Houses). Assesed value is a percentage of market value but may be less – as putnamdenizan notes and is on my notice “Assessment increases for class one properties may not exceed 6% per year and 20% over any five-year period.”
“If you disagree with your property value:
You may file an Application for Correction of Assessed Value with the New York City Tax Commission
no later than March 15, 2012\. However, your assessed value will not be reduced unless you can
demonstrate that the value of your property is less than the Effective Market Value of $…” – and in my case that number is half the market value, and DOF’s market value is about what I’d expect to get if I sold. I suspect you’d have a hard time showing that your house is worth less than what you paid in ’09, and harder still to show a value that it’s worth less than the effective market value that would actually reduce your assessed value and taxes.
Bottom line is that lots of us pay relatively more in taxes per $ market value than others in more expensive neighborhoods, and that’s not likely to change. Count your blessings that you’re not paying property taxes in the suburbs.
elbow | 13 years and 3 months ago
I don’t know if you’d get anywhere but a few years ago I was able to successfully lower the taxes on my commercial condo, but Finance had increased them something like 50% over the previous year. I did it my self. I went to one of those public info sessions held by finance and asked staff what I should do and let them guide me. In subsequent years I have applied again to no avail.
Putnamdenizen | 13 years and 3 months ago
No. Taxes on single (1-3) family houses are artificially low in NYC, which has higher rates on co-ops and other “commercial” properties. They are also restricted from being raised (5% a year?). so most single family homes are taxed on values which are below market rate, and only slowly creeping up. Your taxes are lower than the “fair” number. If there were a universal reassessment on properties in NYC (aint going to happen), your taxes would go up – but not as much as Park Slope of Fort Greene. Would that make you feel better. Of course people do challenge their assessments – lawyers take a piece of the success.