80% Property Tax Increase... Loosing my Home? (Yakima, Olympia: for sale, assessor, appliances)

[Ultrarunner]

I apologize in advance for my rant...

I find it hard to be civil and still express the shock I'm in from opening today's mail from the Thurston County Tax Assessor. I feel like I've been sucker punched and loosing my home is a real possibility.

My home was built in 1977 and I am the 4th owner. My home has never been remodeled or upgraded and still has the original 40 year old GE kitchen appliances and original bath fixtures... no additions or improvements have been made... we like our neighborhood, have good neighbors and are comfortable living here.

Anyone that has an older home knows that maintenance increases with age and I have been trying to put away a little extra each month towards a future new roof, deck repairs and heating system that is on it's last legs... I know it is just a matter of time.

Tonight, I just about fell out of my chair when I opened the letter informing me that my home assessment will be 80% higher in 2008 than in 2007! My assessment has increased every year, but never anywhere near 80%... is this even legal??? I thought California was outrageous, but I've never heard of anything like that happening there.

An 80% property tax increase in one year is nothing short of confiscatory... How can I as a working man ever hope to be able to enjoy my home and live out my days in Washington State?

JanB, who has often posted on this forum, has repeatedly posted warnings about Washington's confiscatory property tax... but I guess I just did not believe it until it happened to me.

I don't know what I'm going to do... move (yeah, right... trying to sell in this market with price reductions all around me and a record number of homes for sale), fight with an appeal or just give up having any hope of spending time with my family and try to find a weekend job.

I'm looking for advice... especially from anyone that has successfully fought back an increased assessment and anyone currently in a similar situation.

Thank You in advance for your help...

[missyM]

I feel for ya.....last year my 2BR got assessed for 211K, it must be the highest 2br in my county. It went up again this year. We haven't done a lot of improving, either. It couldn't hurt you to fight it. Are you a sr. citizen yet? That could put you in a different tax category, hopefully it is statewide and not just Yakima county that recognizes those things.

[Ultrarunner]

Well... not in every aspect... California limits yearly property tax increases and in Washington... the sky's the limit. How do I know? I just learned my 2008 Tax Assessment is going up 80% higher than it was in 2007!

[Ultrarunner]

Not sure how the Senior Citizen thing works... but, I never thought I would say this... unfortunately, I'm not yet old enough to join the ranks of our most seasoned citizens...

[41Willys]

Originally Posted by Ultrarunner

Well... not in every aspect... California limits yearly property tax increases and in Washington... the sky's the limit. How do I know? I just learned my 2008 Tax Assessment is going up 80% higher than it was in 2007!

80%? Wholly crap! If you don't mind me asking how much are you paying a year?

[cdelena]

I think the voters have twice approved limits on the percentage taxes may increase each year (once limiting to 2%, once at 1%) but it appears these have been overturned by the Washington Supreme Court on (what looks to me like) technicalities. It was my understanding that before these laws were passed it was capped at 6% per year.

I don't know how any of this works in Washington as I am new to the State but I am alarmed for you and myself.

When I was in Texas the appraisal increase was limited to 10% a year. My statement always showed a very large increase but the actual tax was on a capped valuation. (The valuation almost tripled in ten years and my taxes went up 10% each year).

Do visit your tax assessor to discuss and hopefully you will find the increase is not that bad (which is criminal). Let us know what you find.

[Ultrarunner]

Originally Posted by 41Willys

80%? Wholly crap! If you don't mind me asking how much are you paying a year?

Hi 41.. My 2007 property tax bill is $8952.17 or about $750 a month.

When I bought my home, I had enough land to build 2 additional homes and my tax bill has increased each year of my ownership.

I don't know if you have been following Thurston County Land use issues, but the reality is, that with the new restrictions, there is no way that building 2 additional homes, let alone one is now feasible. One would think this alone would be grounds for lowering my value as opposed to increasing it.

To be accurate, the letter I received from the Assessor was titled "Real Property Value Change of Notice" so I know my assessment has increased almost 80% for next year and I can only assume that the tax bill will increase accordingly...

There were at least 2 Ballot measures PASSED by Washington State Voters to cap annual assessment increases... unfortunately, both were overturned on what I understand as technicalities....

Apparently, the Thurston County Assessor still believes property is appreciating astronomically, leaving property owners at the mercy of the market in more ways than one.

[scirocco22]

I don't know how this will pertain to your situation, Ultrarunner, but just because your assessed value has gone up, your actual tax bill may not go up accordingly ...although, man, an 80% jump is quite an increase.

The reason I'm saying this is this article in the Olympian:

Home values up 19%: County property tax rates will be set in December

"In 2007, for example, when assessed values rose an average of 18 percent, one-third of taxpayers saw their property-tax bills go down. Half the taxpayers paid up to $50 more in property taxes than the previous year, she said."

Although they're not talking about 80 percent increases, just because your assessed value has gone up 80% doesn't necessarily mean that your tax bill will increase that much ...or at least we can keep our fingers crossed!

[Ultrarunner]

Originally Posted by scirocco22

Although they're not talking about 80 percent increases, just because your assessed value has gone up 80% doesn't necessarily mean that your tax bill will increase that much ...or at least we can keep our fingers crossed!

Thanks Scirocco... for providing some comfort. I've spent the entire evening online researching Washington Property Tax Law... seems a lot of people are not too happy with the courts gutting prop 747 passed by the voters to introduce a little stability to property taxes here in WA.

I'm currently paying nearly $750 each month in property taxes here in Olympia and I don't have any idea how I could manage an additional $600 each month. I'm thinking my 2008 property taxes could increase to $1350 a month and who knows what will happen in 2009?

The deal maker for me in buying this older home was that it had some land that went with it. I thought, maybe at some much later date, the extra land would provide 2 additional home sites for the kids... at least that was the zoning at the time I bought.

Fast forward to summer of 2007 and under the new county regs, building 2 additional homes or even one is no longer feasible... my neighbor has a pasture that collects water when we have several weeks of rain and the county has classified my NEIGHBORS pasture as wetlands and the new expanded definitions now include most of my land in my neighbors wet land buffer zone...

City-Data is a great resource... sadly, it seems there are many other places where the numbers work out better for folks like me to live my retirement years other than WA.

[scirocco22]

Yeah, I understand. That's one of the reasons I moved out of state.

Here's the actual article from the Olympian:

Home values up 19% - News - The Olympian - Olympia, Washington (http://www.theolympian.com/news/story/235479.html - broken link)

Take a look at the right margin where it summarizes. It says:

• Rising assessed values do not necessarily result in higher property taxes.