Heard of Equitax?
 

I got a letter today from an Ocala company called Equitax. They describe themselves as property tax advisors, and offer, (for a fee, of course), to challenge my property tax assessment with the County Assessor, then the Value Adjustment Board if necessary. They take a cut of my savings, based on the formula I pick. I guess the theory is they have info about comparable properties to make a convincing case with the assessor, and they do the legwork.

Anybody ever hear of them or retain them?

(thanx!)

Equitax USA serves around the country...well part of it, anyway. The office in Ocala is one of their franchised offices. You can get some info on them at this link.

http://www.equitaxusa.com/

Here's the questionnaire for residential owners....not sure if it will link, but you can find the info on their page.

http://www.equitaxusa.com/images/Res...ire%5B1%5D.pdf

Apparently there's enough of this type of business to allow for franchises. Personally, I'm not sure how effective they can be here in TV.

I do not own property in TV at this time but I think it would be very hard to fight a property tax assessment in TV. The reason I say this is that the database of home sales is so great and there are so many of the same models being sold the owner will have a hard time questioning the assessment.

A number of years ago and well before the housing market crash the state of Ohio said that property values were rising at about 13% per year at that time. When the next assessment came out my property value went up 13.25% and was said to be based on similar homes sold in my area of the county. I had a couple of friends that both had Mc Mansions and their assessments also went up 13.25% to the penny. I checked with other friends who lived around the city and everyone's went up exactly 13.25% to the penny.

Okay what the county did was to increase the assement per what the state has come up with and not base it on sales of similar homes in your area. It was up to the home owner to challenge the county findings and get theirs changes. This is what I did and had the increase reduced to 3.25%. I have another property and was able to get it reduced to 5.45%.

The counties thinking is to raise everyone's value a certain amount and if the property owned does not like it let them challenge it knowing only a small percentage will. In the end the county comes out ahead and they really do not have to do anything but enter an increase percent into the computer and not do an actual assessment.

In my case the county could not come up with a home similar to mine within my area of the township that sold and they had nothing to compare to. My other property the auditor stated that the property across the street was a similar home and they used that to compare. I proved to the county auditor that the home across the street also came with a second lot that they included in their assessment. Oops.

One thing the counties in Ohio are doing to keep the tax base up with the value of homes going down is to increase the value of the land. It is next to impossibe to fight that because no new land can be created.

Now in TV this would not work as I said because there are so many homes of the same model to compare.

Sorry for the long post but I was just on the phone for about 45 minutes today with the county auditor.

Since I don't live there, I don't know how often property in TV is reassessed by the taxing authorities. Here in my county in NC they reassess property every 8 years for tax purposes. If your last assessment was done during the "boom years" and the value of your property has significantly decreased since that assessment you might have a case for a tax reduction. They would simply have to compare the assessed value of your home to the assessments being placed on new homes being sold today.

That being said, you don't need Equitax or anybody else to do this. I am sure your taxing authority has a process defined that you can do this appeal by yourself.

Yes, I have hired them... with not great results.
 

:sad:
I hired them to challenge an assessment in the North Fulton (Atlanta, GA) area.

Frankly, I was greatly disappointing. They took what I considered a very simplistic approach and they did not get anything that I did not think I could've gotten on my own.

The county re-assessed my property which had been bought two years ago, and raised the assessment by about 10%+, while the market is tanking, and while many other properties in the same subdivision have been sold after mine at least for 10% less than what I paid for mine.

So... I had to decide.. go for the easy argument of getting my assessment back to where it was (contract value) on my own? Or even try to go further down to where the fair market value is now, at least 10% below that.

I decided that it was worth hiring an expert that would bring all the relevant market information to the table, that would know how to handle this situation professionally and go for the more complex discussion.

Guess what... they went just for my 'contract value'. They came back telling me that because of policy, the county wouldn't go for a lower value than my contract until the following year!!!!!!!???? If they had told me that when I hired them... I wouldn't have.

This is one of those cases where a service provider knows that they can't do what you want.. but they still accept the contract, charge you.. and then expect you to go back for a second one!!

Outrageous...

I agree. If you go to your local Assessor's web site there should be information and instructions for appealing your assessment. I believe they have to show this information to property owners.

Granted, it may not be easy to understand or to do, but you can do it yourself and not have to hire anyone. The thing I noticed was the Assessors office handles appeals all of the time and in effect you are operating on their turf and it isn't easy unless you have a very strong case.

It took me a couple of tries before I understood what is needed to be effective with our Assessor's office.

In New Mexico large tax assessment valuation increases are known as "tax lightning", a very descriptive term. A few years ago the legislature passed a law ensuring the tax valuation of an owner occupied residence can not be increased by more than 3% per year. Needless to say that is how much they have raised the valuations every year, even during the last several years when property values have declined. Many people successfully appeal but the waiting for a hearing is currently months long.

Tax lightning is still allowed fon commercial properties there and is a serious problem for property owners. I do not know how residences held for rental are treated.

I learned from a long time small apartment house owner in DC 40 years ago to appeal unreasonable increases. I routinely appeal unjustified and erroneous tax increases these days. Most assessments are done by computers. Usually no one from the tax assessor's office even bothers to drive by a property much less comprehensively evaluate it.

EQUITAX review
 

After researching various Property Tax Advisors I decided to use EQUITAX. I filled out the Property Tax Service Agreement and paid the Administration fee. I got conformation that EQUITAX had received these and that they would begin working on my appeal. After some time no work had been done for me and I attempted to contact the EQUITAX of Southwest Florida office. The office had been closed without informing me or any other of the clients and no longer provided any services. I contacted EQUITAX, INC and informed them of my situation. They sent me a letter back saying that they would not finish my appeal or offer me a refund for the money I already paid. The letter then went on to blame the franchise owner Jeff Brody and stating that what he "owes both a legal and moral obligation to his clients to perform the services for which he was hired and for which his clients have paid". EQUITAX, INC took no responsibility for this franchise, all they did was give me all of Jeff Brody's information and told me to attempt to contact him in order to discuss my case or request a refund. Earlier in the letter they had stated that they were unable to contact him, so any effort I put into it would be a waste. EQUITAX did not stand by the values they published on their website. I would recommend finding a different property tax advisor because with EQUITAX you cannot be sure that you will actually get the service you pay for.