I am fighting my local municipality who is trying to raise my house value. I've been told by a RE lawyer to assess the value of the appliances I have in order to lower the assessment of my house. Can anyone tell me how to judge the original MSRP of home appliances? I do not have receipts - They were all purchased by previous owner.
Thanks
Unless your from a planet I am unfamiliar with you need another lawyer.
The only way to fight property taxes is in city hall. I have tried 4 times failed 3.
Geez. What gulag do you live in?
The Allegheny Co., PA gulag.
Unless the appliances are a part of the house, they would have no affect on the assessed value. My guess is you are looking to change the value by $5000 or $15,000 or more. Showing that the refrigerator cost $500 and not $600 is not going to help much.
I think you need better advice and a better way to contest the evaluation. They should be able to tell you how the figure was arrived at and then you can make a sensible challenge to it. Start by doing comparables. Don't be shocked if you lose. House values have risen considerably the past few years.
I understand what you're saying however the way it's working in my area (Pgh, PA), I am to deduct the afore mentioned items from the sale price. The local municipality is trying to nail me on sale price rather than by assessment. I can argue that I paid for these items as part of the sale price of the house. At the same time these items are truly not considered part of the property "value". So the idea is that once I deduct these things as well as some necessary repairs needed I should get a valuation lower than my sale price - As you guessed around $15,000, more like $20K though. There are some other things in the mix like other local home sales, etc.
I can tell you that trying to go back in time to figure out appliance prices is tough.
How old are the appliances in question? Unless it's a fairly unusual house I'd be surprised if you could manage to get $5k out of the lot and when hit by the marginal rate you're probably not talking about any significant amount net...
Assessment is usually a portion of the sale price and can be from 50% to
100%. The percentage does not matter as long as it is applied equally. That actual rate is set by the town and then the mil rate is fixed on that.Are you trying to say the appliances should be deducted from the sales price of the house since they are not a part of it? If that is the case, the value would be what they are worth today, which is probably not much. You may have better luck browning a used appliance dealer where you will find your dishwasher is $150. Unless t hey are something super quality, it will be a lot of work for tiny gain. They may then want you to prove that you paid the previous owner for the appliances and want to collect sales tax. You may have a tough battle on your hands.
No more than 3 years old. There's more to it than the appliances like a deck replacement, etc. I know this is a somewhat ridiculous exercise but I'm willing to try. I'm told it will tee me up for a successful 2nd appeal.
Since the taxing authorities valuation is apparently based on the sales price, the question would be how much the appliances were worth at the time of the sale. Specifically, what would he have paid for the house without the appliances vs. how much he paid for the house with the appliances. He could very well argue that the value of the appliances was what he would have had to pay for new appliances, as many people would not want to buy used appliances to furnish a new home. I would think getting an appraised value of the appliances might cost more than he would reduce his tax. My suggestion would be to make a listing of the appliances, call some store asking what new appliances of the same quality cost, and assign what he thinks is a fair value to the appliances. Only he himself can say how much he "overpaid" for the house because the appliances were included. If he can find some similar homes that sold at the same time without appliances, and that sold for less than he paid, that would be good evidence.
Sales tax may or may not be an issue. >
Top posting sure makes it hard to keep any continuity, Fred... :)
Fred wrote:
Then today's replacement price ought to be a good start. There's been some markup owing to higher steel prices, but in consumer goods over the last three years prices have been reasonably stable.
Whoops.
If I were sitting at my desk in City Hall you can bet I would assess his property based on what he paid for it... BUT boy would I be quick to increase the assesment if he replaced the deck ...
Just seems to me when someone buys anything...all needed repairs etc are factored into the sales price....
Never though about applinaces however... they are not real property but even if they were all top of the line new appliances I do not think they would be worth enough to alter the assesment in any meaningful way...
Bob G.
Possible to get a big chunk knocked off if you can prove you payed for some high end appliances as well as the home..................see link
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