Notices of Valuation were mailed to Colorado Springs property owners on Friday. You might have thought that, with the decline in property values, your property taxes would be going down – but, that’s probably not the case.
It can be confusing to get your valuation and find out that your home is valued for more than what the house across the street (that’s nearly identical to yours) just sold for. It’s important to understand that property taxes are based on the value of comparable properties sold within a certain period of time – in this case, your 2009 market value is based on comparable homes sold between January 1st, 2007 and June 30, 2008. That was before property values took their largest hits, so your property taxes may not be any lower this year, even if what you could currently sell your home for is lower.
You can, of course, contest the value the assessor has placed on your property, but you need to put a little more work into it than just telling them “my taxes are too high!” The El Paso county assessor has detailed guidelines on their site as to what constitutes grounds for an appeal and how to file your appeal.
If you’re thinking about filing an appeal and want to know what comparable homes sold for during the time period that your taxes are computed on, you can email Jeremy at jeremy@thecircagroup.com and give him your current address (and phone number so that he can clarify info if needed) and he can quickly run a report for you of the homes sold in your neighborhood from January 2007 to June 2008.
