Not if you’re filthy rich, but don’t miss this great opportunity to lower your monthly outlay especially if you could use an economic break like most folks these days. Many states now have tax rebates and rollback programs for properties that have declined in value. New York City recently sent $400 to every homeowner and has been sending annual rebate checks for the past few years.

Some Californians received a property tax rollback without having to ask for it. Los Angeles County automatically reviewed over 300,000 properties purchased between July 1, 2004 and June 30, 2007 and lowered the assessments on 128,000 of these homes and condos. The average reduction in assessed value was about $73,000, amounting to an average property tax savings of $750–not exactly chump change. If you own property in Los Angeles County and believe your taxes are too high, click here for a claim form for a Decline-in-Value Reassessment Application (Prop.8). 

How to Rollback Your Property Taxes

• Start by visiting the website of your state or local tax assessor for directions on how to apply for a reassessment. Look for a downloadable application to dispute your current assessment. Don’t know your state’s site? Try Assessor.com for a link.
• Be prepared to prove your case. Provide a recent appraisal if you have one, but don’t worry if you don’t. There are other ways to support your property’s current value. Some assessor websites make it easy for you by providing access to comparable property sales data through their database. It’s also fairly easy to check sales comps on Zillow.com or Trulia.com. You’ll also find helpful statistics there to bolster your case.
• Check with your local real estate agent. If you’re in the greater Los Angeles area, check out the page “Your Home’s Value” from my homepage (MyMalibuRetreat.com) for an instant and automatic summary of comparable properties.
• Have patience and be prepared to appeal the outcome. A reassessment may take months, but you have the right to appeal if you disagree with the assessor’s decision. You also may be able to request a refund of overpaid taxes in past years, but don’t wait by the mailbox for your check since the process could take many months.

Should You Use a Private Company to File Your Appeal?

You may have received a solicitation from a third party offering to file an assessment appeal for your property on your behalf. While these companies typically do not charge an initial fee for the filing, they can receive 45% of the amount of the tax savings or more if the appeal is granted. These offers and services may not be illegal, but you should be aware that many assessor websites provide a fairly simple filing process at no charge. So it may take an hour or so of your time to fill in the application and include convincing “comps” (comparable properties) to support your lower value, but the savings could be worth hundreds if not thousands of dollars to you! Not bad for an hour’s labor.

What’s YOUR view?