Just passing this suggestion along for city homeowners and for users of this form who may have friends who own homes.
Save this file (in the link below) on your HD for your own assessment grievance and share it with others for their benefit in filing a grievance. It is additional "data" (evidence) of continuing reduction in home values in the city which is more than adequate justification for a grievance to get one's assessment reduced.
Remember, the clueless mayor said last year there is no need for a citywide reassessment and he instead said that "he lowered property value by 4%" which of course was merely performing a math calculation using the assessment value and the 4% number, but we all know he still taxes at the assessment value. Further, his actions did nothing to address the increasing out-of-whack assessment roll that results from successful grievances.
This is proof of a reduction in values by 20% since the last citywide reassessment!
Optimists close their eyes and pretend problems are non existent. Better to have open eyes, see the truths, acknowledge the negatives, and speak up for the people rather than the politicos and their rich cronies.
A house in Schenectady that was closed on in December is assessed triple what the buyer paid for it. Triple.
Which one?
Life is tough, but it's tougher when you're stupid - John Wayne
TIP TO NEW VISITORS TO THIS FORUM - To improve your blogging pleasure it is recommended to ignore (Through editing your prefere) the posts of the following bloggers - DemocraticVoiceofReason, Scotsgod08 and Smoking Bananas. They continually go off topic, do not provide facts and make irrational remarks. If you do not believe me, this can be proven by their reputation scores or by a sampling of their posts.
Optimists close their eyes and pretend problems are non existent. Better to have open eyes, see the truths, acknowledge the negatives, and speak up for the people rather than the politicos and their rich cronies.
And anyone should NOW be calling the assessors office, do NOT wait until it gets close to March 1 when all those other exemptions need to be filed.
Call the assessor's office now and ask to meet with her to discuss the assessed value of your house as the state says, the "informal hearing WITH THE ASSESSOR" because the board of assessment REFUSES to explain WHY grievants' data is insufficient.
Optimists close their eyes and pretend problems are non existent. Better to have open eyes, see the truths, acknowledge the negatives, and speak up for the people rather than the politicos and their rich cronies.
And anyone should NOW be calling the assessors office, do NOT wait until it gets close to March 1 when all those other exemptions need to be filed.
Call the assessor's office now and ask to meet with her to discuss the assessed value of your house as the state says, the "informal hearing WITH THE ASSESSOR" because the board of assessment REFUSES to explain WHY grievants' data is insufficient.
This is the biggest joke "grievants' data is insufficient".
Does anyone know when this hasnt been the case? I think it would be interesting if someone actually hired an appraiser that was very successful in winning grievances and then have then create a package that looked like the homeowner created it. It would contain all the sufficient amout of data. This would prove that they dont look at it at all. Just drag it on.....hoping the homeowner gives up.
Anyone know how many grieve......lose on the first leven and then how many go on to fight it in court?
Life is tough, but it's tougher when you're stupid - John Wayne
TIP TO NEW VISITORS TO THIS FORUM - To improve your blogging pleasure it is recommended to ignore (Through editing your prefere) the posts of the following bloggers - DemocraticVoiceofReason, Scotsgod08 and Smoking Bananas. They continually go off topic, do not provide facts and make irrational remarks. If you do not believe me, this can be proven by their reputation scores or by a sampling of their posts.
This is the biggest joke "grievants' data is insufficient".
Does anyone know when this hasnt been the case? I think it would be interesting if someone actually hired an appraiser that was very successful in winning grievances and then have then create a package that looked like the homeowner created it. It would contain all the sufficient amout of data. This would prove that they dont look at it at all. Just drag it on.....hoping the homeowner gives up.
Anyone know how many grieve......lose on the first leven and then how many go on to fight it in court?
McC would NEVER divulge to news, media nor to the taxpayers, how many grievances come before the board of assessment under his administration.
The SCAR level, if I'm correct, court is state level and I would think that the state court system should be able to answer how many were filed, but again, that not reflective of how many went to the board level.
But I'll tell you, locally, there is a guy who a very well known, highly recognized financial planner with his own business -- that Sanford Family. He explained on Paul V's show that they put his mother's former house up for sale, it's Garner Ave which is really one of the nicer, more stable areas of the city, and roughly borders Niskayuna. It was the show just about July 1, when grievants received their determination notices from the board of assessement. He said that he had grieved, providing about 2 dozen comparable houses and had an appraisal, and as a wealthy professional man in the field of finances, well, he knows his stuff. But he told Paul he got the notice, it said "denied, insufficient data."
He further mentioned however that they finally had an offer made just that previous weekend; he said that if they had not had an offer that he would have taken the city to court.
The city claimed the house was worth $162,500. Wanna know what it sold for? Remember, this is a finer area of the city, bordering Nisky. It sold for $105,000 !!!!!!! You have to remember, "market value" is defined as what a willing buyer is willing to pay to a willing seller. There was a willing buyer. Obvioously Mr Family provided more than enough EVIDENCE, showing no willing buyers at the price the willing seller listed for, despite numerous price reductions. When a seller lists a house and there are no willing buyers, and the seller reduces the asking price and there are still no willing buyers, and reduces the price again and still no offers are made, and this continues, well that is MORE THAN ENOUGH EVIDENCE of proof of reduced value, more than enough data, but the board of assessment still says "iinsufficient data!"
McC probably will NEVER do a reassessment, because doing so would be an admission of failure, proof that all the dem projects have caused the home values to plummet. I mean we "nayboobs" know that the downtown projects have caused the tax base in the city to plummet, unlike a certain cheerleader who thinks there is a renaissance (but REFUSES to provide one teeny weeny shred of evidence, even REFUSES to answer the question of "what happened to the tax base?").
In order to see the city improve, it is incumbent upon us "nayboobs" to get the word out, to tell the truth to people, so that the people will demand the city & county dems stop the wild spending on downtown and tax exemptions for their political cronies. The problem is, the only people left in the city are largely people who rent and don't know what an assessment value is nor how property values affect them as renters. Then of course there are others who re tenants who don't even have to pay rent.
Optimists close their eyes and pretend problems are non existent. Better to have open eyes, see the truths, acknowledge the negatives, and speak up for the people rather than the politicos and their rich cronies.
I should get the homeowner's permission to mention his house specifically on here, I think. The assessment wasn't done correctly last time, not only are they too high, they are just wildly wrong all over the place.
The city claimed the house was worth $162,500. Wanna know what it sold for? Remember, this is a finer area of the city, bordering Nisky. It sold for $105,000 !!!!!!! You have to remember, "market value" is defined as what a willing buyer is willing to pay to a willing seller. There was a willing buyer. Obvioously Mr Family provided more than enough EVIDENCE, showing no willing buyers at the price the willing seller listed for, despite numerous price reductions. When a seller lists a house and there are no willing buyers, and the seller reduces the asking price and there are still no willing buyers, and reduces the price again and still no offers are made, and this continues, well that is MORE THAN ENOUGH EVIDENCE of proof of reduced value, more than enough data, but the board of assessment still says "iinsufficient data!"
you have to pay to play.....just ask Moodys
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
TUESDAY, APRIL 3, 2012 Moody’s Foresees 10% Drop in US Housing Prices Recall when yours truly attended Americatalyst, a real housing/mortgage nerd conference last November, and the panel that was asked to forecast housing had no one predicting more than a 2-3% decline? I was gobsmacked because no one seemed to be acknowledging the huge number of foreclosures in process plus those likely to happen (“shadow inventory”).
Moody’s has focused on one aspect of the issue and does not like what it sees. Recall this Moody’s forecast follows one from Fitch of an 8% to 10% decline in housing prices. From Bloomberg:
Sales of repossessed properties probably will rise 25 percent this year from 1 million in 2011, according to Moody’s Analytics Inc. Prices for the homes could drop as much as 10 percent because they deteriorated as they were held in reserve during investigations by state officials resolved in February, according to RealtyTrac Inc. That month, 43 percent of foreclosures were delinquent for two or more years, from a 21 percent share in 2010, according to Lender Processing Services Inc. in Jacksonville, Florida.
Prices for repossessed properties could drop as much as 10 percent because they deteriorated as they were held in reserve during investigations by state officials resolved in February, according to RealtyTrac Inc.
“The longer a foreclosed home is in the mill, the bigger the losses,” said Todd Sherer, who manages distressed mortgage investments for Dalton Investments LLC, a Los Angeles-based hedge fund that oversees $1.5 billion. “We have a bulge of these properties coming through the system.”
Homes stockpiled less than a year sell for about 35 percent below the value set by lenders, according to a March 15 report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. At two years, the loss is close to 60 percent. A surge of cheap foreclosures may erode prices in the broader real estate market, even as the economy expands and residential building increases, said Karl Case, one of the creators of the S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index.
Yves here. Note this view is based simply on the notion that foreclosures were attenuated on 1.25 million houses, allegedly due to banks keeping them off the market due to the robosiging crisis. By contrast, top housing analyst Laurie Goodman estimates the amount of shadow inventory at between 8 and 10 million homes, and our Michael Olenick, using a different methodology, comes in at just under 9 million homes.
Moreover, evidence on the ground suggests that the banks had reasons other than the robosigning scandal for drawing out foreclosures. While NEW foreclosure actions slowed down markedly, and have ramped up again in the wake of the settlement, it looked far more likely that banks were attenuating foreclosures to maximize income . The longer a house in delinquent and then in the foreclosure process, the more the bank can collect in late fees and servicing fees. And there is considerable evidence that banks pile junk fees on top of that, for instance, double charging the borrower and the trust for fees like broker price opinions.
In Florida and other states, there are numerous cases where the bank has completed all the steps in the foreclosure but has not take possession of the house to sell it. That sort of behavior has nothing to do with robosigning and presumably has to do with bank economics (as in it has a second lien it would have to write off when the home is liquidated).
In other words, there is good reason to believe the Moody’s estimate of homes that will hit the market over time is considerably understated, unless the banks plan to keep a lot of houses zombified. Stay tuned.
The bursting of the housing bubble plunged the economy into a recession from which it has yet to fully recover. But economists say this could finally be the year that housing lifts us out of the doldrums. Just over half of economists surveyed by CNNMoney identified a housing recovery as the primary driver of economic growth this year. The rest were split fairly evenly between consumer spending, increased domestic energy production and stimulus from the Federal Reserve as major growth drivers.
"Homebuilding activity will likely remain the strongest growing component of the economy in 2013," said Keith Hembre, chief economist of Nuveen Asset Management. "After several years of excess supply, demand and supply conditions are now in much better balance." Home sales rebounded to the strongest level in five years in 2012, as home building bounced back to levels not seen since early in the recession. Near record low mortgage rates, rising home prices and a drop in foreclosures have combined to bring buyers back to the market. The economists surveyed also forecast that there will be just under 1 million housing starts this year -- roughly matching the 28% rise in home building in 2012. Moody's Analytics is forecasting much stronger growth -- a 50% rise both this year and next year, which it estimates will create more than 1 million new jobs. "There's a lot of pent-up demand for housing, and very little supply," said Celia Chen, housing economist for Moody's Analytics. "As demand continues to improve, home builders have nothing to sell. They'll have to build." She said that growth in building will mean adding not just construction jobs, but also manufacturing jobs building the appliances and furniture needed in the new homes, which in turn drives overall consumption higher. Related: The road to real recovery is open And economists say the tight supply and renewed demand for housing should lead to higher home values -- about a 3.7% increase according to the survey. "One of the most significant indirect effects from the housing recovery is the 'wealth effect' on consumers due to the recovery in home prices," said Joseph LaVorgna, chief U.S. economist of Deutsche Bank, who said better home values can affect both consumer psychology on spending as well as their actual finances. "Even small moves in home prices can have large effects on consumption, because housing comprises such a significant share of household assets," he said.
But even with the bullish outlook on housing, economists are still forecasting only a modest rise in the overall economy this year. The consensus estimate is for economic growth of about 2.4% in 2013, only a modest improvement from the 2012 growth rate of about 2% they're forecasting when the final numbers are in. By far the biggest concern is a standoff on Capitol Hill. About three-quarters of those surveyed picked Congressional gridlock -- which could result in a cutback in federal spending -- as the biggest problem facing the U.S. economy. Other choices, such as the European sovereign debt crisis, continued high unemployment and increased government regulation, were much less of a concern. "Washington is now the primary impediment to stronger economic growth," said Russell Price, senior economist of Ameriprise Financial.
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
Contesting Your Assessment in New York State (Previously titled “What to do if you disagree with your assessment”) Overview……………………………………..…………………………………………………………Page 1 Grievance procedures……………………………………………………………………………….Page 2 Completing grievance Form RP-524………………………………………………………………Page 5 OVERVIEW If you own property in New York State, you are eligible for formal review of your assessment. There are two levels of formal review: 1) Administrative review - the “grievance” process is conducted at the municipal level 2) Judicial review • in order to pursue judicial review you must first go through administrative review • includes two options: 1. Small Claims Assessment Review (SCAR) - a low-cost option available to most homeowners – information is available from the website of the Unified Court System - http://www.nycourts.gov/litigants/scar/generalinfo.shtml 2. Tax certiorari proceedings in State Supreme Court - to pursue this option, you should contact an attorney. Before pursuing formal review of your assessment, you should first determine if you are assessed fairly: Step One: What is the assessor's estimate of the market value of your property? You’ll find this information on the assessment roll. You should check your assessment annually prior to Grievance Day (typically the fourth Tuesday in May, but confirm the date with your assessor). If your municipality is assessing at 100% of market value, your assessment and the assessor’s estimate of market value will be identical. P
If you live in Schenectady, city, call the assessor 382-5075 NOW and request an "informal review," as per the following form the NYS Tax Dept, the Property tax section.
If the assessor's office won't meet with you to discuss in the informal setting, ask WHY. This is to be done BEFORE the the "Tentative" assessment comes out on May 1 of each year! Ask why she won't do it. Ask why you don't have any ability to be informed of the reasons for high assessment and how the board continually says "denied, insufficient data."
Be sure to report back here.
Quoted Text
If your municipality is assessing at 100% of market value, your assessment and the assessor's estimate of market value will be identical.
If assessments are not at 100% of market value, you can use this formula to calculate the assessor's estimate of market value: •assessment ÷ level of assessment = assessor's estimate of market value
Step Two: Develop an estimate of the market value of your property •Homeowners can learn how to estimate the market value of your home •Other property owners may wish to contact an appraiser or other real estate professional
Generally, if the assessor's estimate of the market value of your property reflects roughly the amount for which you could sell your property, then your assessment is fair.
Step Three: If your assessment is too high
Often, an informal discussion between a taxpayer and an assessor can result in a sharing of information beneficial to both parties. If such a discussion does not result in a reduction in your assessment, and you still feel as though your assessment is too high, you may wish to contest your assessment.
Quoted Text
Taxpayers who feel they are not being fairly assessed should meet with their assessor before the tentative assessment roll is established. In an informal setting, the assessor can explain how the assessment was determined and the rationale behind it.” “Informal meetings with assessors to resolve assessment questions about the next assessment roll can take place throughout the year. If, after speaking with your assessor, you still feel you are unfairly assessed, ask for the booklet, “Contest your assessment.”
Quoted Text
Some communities have not had a reassessment in several years or even decades. As a result, the estimated market value shown on the assessment roll or your property tax bill may not actually reflect your home’s current market value. If you conclude that the assessor’s estimated market value of your home is too high, then you should contact the assessor’s office to learn the procedures for an informal assessment review. During the informal review process, you and the assessor can each discuss your property's characteristics and how the market value estimate was determined. If you remain unsatisfied with the assessment, you have the right to a formal administrative and judicial review of the assessment. The assessor can provide you with information on these processes.
Optimists close their eyes and pretend problems are non existent. Better to have open eyes, see the truths, acknowledge the negatives, and speak up for the people rather than the politicos and their rich cronies.
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