Where to go to get the facts...

It's that time of the year when peoples thoughts turn to...

fighting their assessments.

If you're not happy with what the local assessors have come up with for the value (especially taxable value) of your home, you may want to get an appointment to challenge that assessed value. If you're going to do that you should first take the time to talk to the assessor and find out what method he/she used to arrive at the assessed value. You should also ask about the appeal process and what the expectations of the appeal board will be for your presentation to them of your appeal. Then you'll need to go find the actual market data to support your case.

Fortunately, if you live in one of the areas that I track, you can find that market data on-line at my Web site www.movetomilford.com

I have been tracking the sold houses in Milford (Village and Township), Highland, Commerce, White Lake, Lyon/South Lyon, and Brighton for some time now and recently added Green Oak, Hartland and West Bloomfield. There's probably not enough data on the sight for those last three yet, but there is 2-3 years worth of data for the other six. You generally only need to go back 6 months.

You'll have to pick out the homes in your immediate area from the data that is there and you can't just use distressed sales (they are marked as "F" for foreclosures and "S" for short sales). In general the assessment boards want to see market data for your immediate neighborhood or area, certainly no more than 2-3 miles away and in the same school district. You'll be able to find the listed prices, the sold prices, the SEV's the square footage and other data on my site. Again, make sure that you understand what things are important to the appeals board.

Fighting your assessment is somewhat of a two-edged sword. You may succeed in getting the SEv (and taxable) value reduced; however, you should then not complain that your house is worth more when it's time to sell. In the current economic environment about the only place where your home has retained it's old "value" is in it's replacement value for insurance purposes. It almost always costs more to rebuild your house right now than it's worth on the market.

Realtors are not allowed to provide you with a comparative market analysis for the purposes of appealing your tax assessment. They can provide you with the raw data of what has sold in a particular area, which you can then use to make your own market analysis; but why bother them, just go to my Web site and look under the choice "What has sold in the Milford area" if you live in one of the areas that I track.