Property Tax Increase Notice

[oldcoote]

Originally Posted by markbarbera

Fairhamilton, some things to consider to determine if you may have grounds for appeal:

Firstly, go online and see the assassment for houses in your neighbourhood. Assessments are based on the average value of the property in your neighbourhood, not on purchase price. If your home is assessed at a value greater than the area average, you mat have grounds for appeal.

Secondly, compare your property's qualities to those of your neighbouring property. If your assessment is higher than your neighbours, it may be due to a larger lot, larger home, or higher quality home (i.e. all brick 2-storey vs. bungalow with aluminum siding). However, if your home or property is smaller than neighbouring homes but you have the same assessment value, you may want to appeal.

It is not unusual for a house to be assessed at a greater value than its purchase price. Remember, when market value assessment was introduced in Hamilton, the real estate in the lower city was seriously undervalued. As the resale averages rise so will the assessments. In areas where prices of late have increased dramatically, the assessment would leap as well. Believe me I know, my own assessment arrived and it has increased over 2005 by 25%.

You may want to invite a realtor over to do a walk-through and give you an estimate on the price of your home. You may have been in the right place at the right time when you bought. Perhaps you did get a great deal for that area.

If you have gone over these considerations and feel you have been wrongly assessed, start of by putting in a request for reconsideration. I would go that route before an appeal seeing that a reconsideration request isn't going to cost you anything. An appeal will cost you $75, and you can always do an appeal if the reconsideration request is denied.

Good luck with it...

Comparisons have little to do with it.

You simply need to prove that your house isn't worth what MPAC thinks it is.

They don't care if your neighbours house is undervalued. At least that was my experience.