Anyone have a successful tax greivance?

I keep seeing this mentioned on MLS listings but I wonder how many actually end up in a savings.

There are so many houses we've seen where we would want to knock down a deck or a rickety shed, garage, etc. That might help things but I wonder by just how much?

Anyone ever have success? If you wouldn't mind mentioning the difference afterwards, and the town you greived with, that would be nice to know.

Message edited 8/2/2007 10:20:11 PM.

Re: Anyone have a successful tax greivance?

we are in the middle of ours, we used Mark Lewis. I'm optimistic that we'll get around 2k taken off based on what I know my neighbors pay.

Re: Anyone have a successful tax greivance?

my mom did, years ago. she argued her home wasn't worth as much as her neighbors, becuase it needed a new roof, siding..... you get the point. It worked. She got something like 1k off her taxes... mind you, her taxes are still about 17k

Re: Anyone have a successful tax greivance?

Wow. 17k for taxes?? We wouldn't be able to afford a house that was worth that much in taxes.

I just realized, I used the wrong terminology. If you remove something that's taxable from a house, like a deck, then I suppose it would be a re-assessment, right? And then if you're not happy with the results, you could try to greive.

This guy Mark Lewis must make money hand over fist. It sounds like he's the biggest game in town for this stuff.

Re: Anyone have a successful tax greivance?

We did & got about $1200 taken off.

They had our home valued at more then it appraised for. Like over $100k more.

We are in Commack(Huntington) side.

ETA: I can't remember who we used. It was a woman thou.

It cost us 1/2 of what we got off so $600.00.

Message edited 8/3/2007 9:02:49 AM.

Re: Anyone have a successful tax greivance?

I did all the paperwork myself - gathered comps from surrounding homes on my block, submitted photos of my house/property, wrote a blurb about why I felt my taxes were overpriced and wound up with a reduction of ~$2k.

My house was appraised for more than what we paid - but I don't think appraised value has much to do with the grievance.

I would start with the comps - find out what our neighbors (with similar homes -in size- and property) are paying in taxes and see what kind of case you have. In my situation, I was paying $1200 more than my neighbor who has a 1k foot extension on his house plus dormered living space upstairs (my upstairs is unfinished) and was paying $2100 more than an identical house across the street.

Plus, we have STAR. Worked out very well.