Property Tax Assessments.... (Vancouver, Olympia, Sammamish: for sale, rental, assessor)

[509]

Just got my new property tax assessment in Chelan County.

1800 square foot house, 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, no garage on one acre. On a dirt road for 1.5 miles that needs to be plowed in winter. NO ELECTRICITY, NO WATER, no county services, except for law enforcement which takes 45 minutes to arrive. NOT WATERFRONT. 30 minutes from town.

Chelan County, thinks the house is worth $516,000 dollars!!!

Increase of 200% over last year.

What are you assessments showing??

[rkcarguy]

That's a big jump. Steep for what must be off grid if no electricity?

[xPlorer48]

Our property tax assessment in Whatcom County increased more than it ever had by a large percentage. Our house is a plain 55 year old box, certainly not like our more affluent neighbors who have 5,000 square foot mansions mostly recently built.

But yours is way out of whack. Did all the assessors in the state decide to increase everyone’s taxes to reflect true market value? That is what our elected assessor did and she made good on an election promise 4 years ago. She is running unopposed this time.

According to most SM comments, people are outraged. The politicians, notably a city council member, tried to placate all by insisting that our assessment increases won’t equal the taxes. We shall see.

[509]

Chelan County has been on true market value for years now.

BUT, in the past few years western Washington residents have taken over jobs in the planning department and assessors office. I don't think they like living in Chelan County nor do they like local residents.

All my neighbors who live in western Washington and have second homes around me had their assessments go up by less than 75%. Mine went up 200%.

We will see what happens in the upcoming election.

Last time, western Washington residents were encouraged register in Chelan County and they DID get one County Commissioner elected.

https://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/...a5e996e5b.html

The County did tell people that they could NOT vote in Chelan County if they lived in western Washington, but never did check the voter rolls to see how many people were illegally voting.

It was a close election and she got elected thanks to the "new" voters.

This election will be different since there is no issue that western Washington residents would want to vote in Chelan County to protect their interests.

I suspect we will have a new assessor as the result of this election. I just wish we would clean up our voter rolls to stop voting by out of county landowners.

[Hemlock140]

We have a 3,000 sf house on 1/3 acre in Sammamish. Our new assessment is value of $1,359,000, and increase of $500,000 over last year. The result is a $2,200 increase in the tax. In our case, much is voter-approved levies for schools, with our local schools getting the lion's share, 27.5% of our tax money.

If you check Zillow values, it shows our value less at just $1,270,800.

[cdelena]

Here in Clark County it seems appraisals have tracked pretty close to inflation so about a 75% increase over 20 years primarily because your dollar is worth that much less.

[StealthRabbit]

My most recent change of valuation on a 50yo very worn out mobile home WA property was 350.7% (Yes, more that tripled in one yr)

Assessor claimed they 'Changed the Formula'.... I guess so!

Thus the same reason we were forced from Colorado in the 1970's when our ranch became taxed as a potential subdivision ("Highest and best use" is to grow houses, not cows). Great benefit to the tax roles, but the locals have to leave (along with their cows).

This year, an out of state investor recently paid $500k+ for a neighboring building lot (that they were not allowed to build on), so... all our neighboring property (dirt) valuations increased based on the resell of his vacant lot, which has been vacant for 50 yrs and will remain vacant for 50 more yrs.

Then there is the Better Homes and Gardens valuation... Your home is considered spiffed and ready for sale, just like the one down the street that sold for a premium.

The the realtor commission premium (7% bump in comparable (?) sales price. )

Quite a never ending racket. costs me $46/ day on my primary home. + 12 rental properties. (I never raise my rents for secure tenants, 12 yrs now for one) We're still eating, but not as well as our assessor. He claims his parents are waiting to move up from CA after they buy my home on tax sale. Maybe they could arrange for me to swap their Prop 13 rate .

[StealthRabbit]

All my neighbors who live in western Washington and have second homes around me had their assessments go up by less than 75%. Mine went up 200%.

Maybe you should get a western WA addy to send your assessment to. The assessor might have an algorithm to increase assessments sent to local zips more than distant zips. (That would be counterproductive to keeping his gravy job).

I run the std deviation on 100 nearest properties for increases. They average 11-17%< and mine is always over 20%. Assessor claims it's because I protest and make him answer to Olympia, so I cost him more trouble. He always warns "don't do that!, or I'll hit you hard next yr". He's always true to that threat.

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by 509

Just got my new property tax assessment in Chelan County.

1800 square foot house, 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, no garage on one acre. On a dirt road for 1.5 miles that needs to be plowed in winter. NO ELECTRICITY, NO WATER, no county services, except for law enforcement which takes 45 minutes to arrive. NOT WATERFRONT. 30 minutes from town.

Chelan County, thinks the house is worth $516,000 dollars!!!

Increase of 200% over last year.

What are you assessments showing??

What does zillow say?

My assessments in Clark County (Vancouver area) are up about 25% in the past 2 years but still about 10% below zillow and I think it is probably fair.

Taxes are only up about 5% over the past 2 years so there's that.

[jackmccullough]

Did you have a townwide or countywide reassessment? What was your percentage of increase compared to the average, or to the grand list as a whole?