Appealing property assessment--St. Louis County (comparable sales, sale, assessor)

[rmc01]

I am preparing an appeal to the Board of Equalization for the value of a house we bought this spring. (Apparently I missed the informal appeals deadline). I have our closing statement, the appraisal we got for our loan, plus contractor estimates to correct some problems we weren't aware of before we took possession of the house.

If anyone who has been through this process has any tips or suggestions, I'd love to hear them. Thanks!

[flynavyj]

Sorry to hear of your troubles. Did the value of the house drop more than you were expecting? We purchased a home last spring and i've seen the assessed value drop this year, as well as every friend i have who owns also...might not be enjoyable, but it might just be the way of the times. Good luck!

[rmc01]

Thanks flynavyj. The assessors office actually appraised it for more than we bought it for a few months ago, so I'd like to get their assessment down to the purchase price if possible. (The assessment increased over last year because of an addition the previous owner put on the house, which wasn't accounted for previously.)

[marigolds6]

You already have a lot of the keys. An independent appraisal and a recent open market transaction. Technically, transactions after January 1, 2011 are inadmissible, but the BOE still might take it into account.

The contractor estimates might hurt you more than help you. Repairs can only be admitted if they are repairs that a buyer would require a seller to fix before selling. The contractor estimates might establish proof that your house was sold for less than market value because it had issues that would have to be fixed after sale. Moreover, you might have to address questions of why you purchased the house as-is or did not get an inspection, since those would further indicate that your home purchase was not a normal arms length transaction at market value.


The easiest way to reduce your value though is to reduce the C.D.U. (Condition, Desirability, Utility) of your house. The addition hurts you here, because it increases the utility of your house. If you can demonstrate that your house is of worse condition and lower desirability than it is rated, that will drop your assessment by 20% or more. Photos of the house's current condition will help with this; but be sure that your CDU is lower than what the assessor has if you go this route. Sometimes, people try to prove a lower CDU, and end up proving a higher CDU instead!

And be aware that this CDU can affect your sale price down the road though if you plan to sell the home at some point.

The other factor you need is comparable sales. Check out the assessors site for more information on what is a comparable sale, but basically you want to demonstrate that the comps for your house were inaccurately chosen and that other homes with a lower value per square foot are better comparisons. Remember that it is value per square foot, not overall value, that is most important in comparable sales.

[moorlander]

Property assessments typically lag a year or 2 behind market values.