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newlywedT
LIF Adolescent
Member since 9/11 792 total posts
Name:
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Do many people Not grieve their taxes?
We're in the process of house hunting and we saw one house that has listed their property taxes (on the house form when you go to the open house) and its super low.
We looked up their neighbors tax payments and the people on either side (and one across the street) pay about 5k more. (same house style, size and same property style)
How is this possible?
We asked the agent and he said "Maybe they didn't grieve" - but in this case it would be that most people don't, which seems strange to me.
But we've never paid property taxes before (our property tax is part of our monthly maintenance fee) so maybe grieving is a long involved process that most people skip....?
Also does the amount of the grieve differ by person?
For example:
Person A - young, single person
Person B - older, retired married couple
Same house, lot, etc - would they get the same amount of grieve or would Person B get more off due to their circumstances? (like my dad pays half the property tax cost in queens because hes over 65, etc)
Thanks!
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Posted 4/18/21 3:54 PM  |
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Long Island Weddings
Long Island's Largest Bridal Resource |
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Re: Do many people Not grieve their taxes?
We are lucky our taxes are not as high as many but when we inquired for shits and giggles, we would have gotten back to same amount it cost to grieve it so it really didn’t make sense to.
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| Posted 4/18/21 4:14 PM |
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jlm2008
LIF Adult
Member since 1/10 5092 total posts
Name:
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Re: Do many people Not grieve their taxes?
Posted by windyweather21
We are lucky our taxes are not as high as many but when we inquired for shits and giggles, we would have gotten back to same amount it cost to grieve it so it really didn’t make sense to.
Go to relationship board WW, I want to meet. I made a post.
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| Posted 4/18/21 4:39 PM |
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lululu
LIF Adult
Member since 7/05 9508 total posts
Name:
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Re: Do many people Not grieve their taxes?
There are so many factors that can go into it. did those houses sell recently? did they do renovations? Do they have more square footage?
We were overpaying and still are compared to our neighbors because we a pool.
It also depends who you hire to grieve them. We had no luck with one firm, then hired a real law firm and got a huge chunk taken off.
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| Posted 4/18/21 4:48 PM |
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Hofstra26
Love to Bake!
Member since 7/06 27915 total posts
Name:
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Re: Do many people Not grieve their taxes?
Usually when homes are listed the taxes shown don't reflect any discounts or savings that the seller might have in place. Maybe these sellers listed it with those discounts accounted for in order to make the tax situation more appealing on the home. When we bought our first house, the agent mentioned that if we filed for STAR our tax burden would drop from what was shown on the listing.
As for grieving taxes, I did it a few times and never had any luck. Right before we bought our second home the previous owner grieved them and turns out it was approved which was awesome for us, soon after we moved in our taxes dropped almost $3500/yr.
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| Posted 4/18/21 4:51 PM |
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Momma2015
Mommax2
Member since 12/12 6655 total posts
Name:
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Re: Do many people Not grieve their taxes?
Recently Nassau county has changed the way they calculate property taxes and grievances are harder to come by or come out to be less $ off. We grieved one year with a company and saw a decrease, but when I did it myself, for free, it was so easy and I got off just as much- and didn't wind up having to pay half of it back.
To answer your question, no the person grieving has NO impact on the property taxes/grievance amount. It's all about the house. I highly recommend joining the facebook group "Nassau Grieve Your Tax Assessment - Free". It's run by Jeff Gold, who you can actually hire his Firm to grieve for you, but he also lays it out step by step on how to DIY it. Between him and the long term grievers, it's a wealth of knowledge. It's also super helpful because he keeps the group apprised of approaching deadlines and changes in law.
ETA: We missed one year since we've learned about grieving, otherwise we've done it 3x. We got $ off every time.
Message edited 4/18/2021 4:54:15 PM.
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| Posted 4/18/21 4:52 PM |
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MyBabyG
LIF Adolescent
Member since 1/15 792 total posts
Name:
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Do many people Not grieve their taxes?
When we bought our home the taxes listed was 4K less then what the true taxes were.(we already knew this) The people had enhanced star and veterans discount. Maybe that have some discounts that won’t pertain to you?
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| Posted 4/18/21 4:56 PM |
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RainyDay
LIF Adult
Member since 6/15 3986 total posts
Name:
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Do many people Not grieve their taxes?
I have never grieved taxes.
Message edited 4/18/2021 5:03:21 PM.
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| Posted 4/18/21 5:03 PM |
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MK2010x2
LIF Infant
Member since 8/17 142 total posts
Name:
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Re: Do many people Not grieve their taxes?
It's a very good idea to look at the taxes in the area. My taxes went up $8K in 5 years after moving in - when we bough, the taxes on the house were very low to the area.
We grieve every year and it helps but plan on paying what is normal for the area/type of house.
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| Posted 4/18/21 5:07 PM |
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lisa0807
LIF Adolescent
Member since 4/10 572 total posts
Name:
Lisa
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Do many people Not grieve their taxes?
If you live in Nassau County you should grieve every year, it is a simple process no reason not to. For years Nassau properties were over assessed so grieving made a lot of sense and most people who grieved actually received deductions. I believe 2 years ago Nassau County assessed again and raised those people who had very low taxes mostly due from grieving and reduced those that were too high. I still grieve each year and last year I received about a $600 decrease.
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| Posted 4/18/21 5:26 PM |
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LittleDiva
LIF Adult
Member since 9/11 1284 total posts
Name:
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Do many people Not grieve their taxes?
We always grieve when we are eligible (Suffolk). We have won twice. My taxes are significantly lower than my neighbors. I know one is concerned bc they have open CO’s so they don’t want to draw any attention to their house. The others, no clue.
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| Posted 4/18/21 5:52 PM |
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angelicd77
LIF Adolescent
Member since 12/13 794 total posts
Name:
Kim
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Do many people Not grieve their taxes?
The prior owner of my house grieved. My taxes are at least $2k lower then most of my neighbors. Most havent filed for star either. Its very strange to me...
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| Posted 4/18/21 6:08 PM |
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BFNY516
LIF Adult
Member since 7/20 1187 total posts
Name:
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Do many people Not grieve their taxes?
I can’t imagine someone not grieving on LI. You can do it yourself without paying someone.
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| Posted 4/18/21 8:31 PM |
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KarenK122
The Journey is the Destination
Member since 5/05 4430 total posts
Name:
Karen
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Do many people Not grieve their taxes?
We grieve on our condo every three years and we get reduced every three years. It's not much but any bit counts. We have no grieved our house yet mainly because I don't have an extra few thousand around to pay the fee and I'm also afraid with my luck it will go up lol.
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| Posted 4/18/21 9:03 PM |
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Mill188
LIF Adult
Member since 3/09 3072 total posts
Name:
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Re: Do many people Not grieve their taxes?
Posted by newlywedT
We're in the process of house hunting and we saw one house that has listed their property taxes (on the house form when you go to the open house) and its super low.
We looked up their neighbors tax payments and the people on either side (and one across the street) pay about 5k more. (same house style, size and same property style)
How is this possible?
We asked the agent and he said "Maybe they didn't grieve" - but in this case it would be that most people don't, which seems strange to me.
But we've never paid property taxes before (our property tax is part of our monthly maintenance fee) so maybe grieving is a long involved process that most people skip....?
Also does the amount of the grieve differ by person?
For example:
Person A - young, single person
Person B - older, retired married couple
Same house, lot, etc - would they get the same amount of grieve or would Person B get more off due to their circumstances? (like my dad pays half the property tax cost in queens because hes over 65, etc)
Thanks!
I do this for a living. There are so many variables that it would take days to explain. You cannot go by how much someone pays in taxes. It's all about assessment. You and I can have the same exact assessment, but pay different amount of taxes due to various exemptions. When house hunting, make sure you look at the assessment as well as the "amount of taxes." Someone can have low taxes, but you move in and get hit with a super high tax bill, because you lose all of their exemptions, or the assessment was artificially low due to no c/o's or permits that the former owner did nothing about until he/she was ready to sell.
All an assessment is is a percentage of market value. In order to be successful in a grievance for a single-family residential property, you must figure out a market value. To figure it out, take the assessment and divide it by the residential assessment ratio that is posted each year (it is different in every jurisdiction). You then have to prove that the home is less than the market value the taxing jurisdiction is claiming. You can do this by using comparable sales, an appraisal, or a recent sales price of the subject property.
Grieving your taxes through SCAR (small claims assessment review) is a relatively fast process. Claims are resolved within a year.
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| Posted 4/19/21 2:49 AM |
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Mill188
LIF Adult
Member since 3/09 3072 total posts
Name:
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Re: Do many people Not grieve their taxes?
Posted by KarenK122
We grieve on our condo every three years and we get reduced every three years. It's not much but any bit counts. We have no grieved our house yet mainly because I don't have an extra few thousand around to pay the fee and I'm also afraid with my luck it will go up lol.
In NYS it is illegal for the assessment to be raised because you grieved the taxes.
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| Posted 4/19/21 2:50 AM |
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Mill188
LIF Adult
Member since 3/09 3072 total posts
Name:
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Re: Do many people Not grieve their taxes?
Posted by LittleDiva
We always grieve when we are eligible (Suffolk). We have won twice. My taxes are significantly lower than my neighbors. I know one is concerned bc they have open CO’s so they don’t want to draw any attention to their house. The others, no clue.
open c/o's will not be caught because you grieve your taxes.
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| Posted 4/19/21 2:51 AM |
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KarenK122
The Journey is the Destination
Member since 5/05 4430 total posts
Name:
Karen
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Re: Do many people Not grieve their taxes?
Posted by Mill188
Posted by KarenK122
We grieve on our condo every three years and we get reduced every three years. It's not much but any bit counts. We have no grieved our house yet mainly because I don't have an extra few thousand around to pay the fee and I'm also afraid with my luck it will go up lol.
In NYS it is illegal for the assessment to be raised because you grieved the taxes.
Thank you! I didn't know that.
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| Posted 4/19/21 3:27 AM |
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Re: Do many people Not grieve their taxes?
Posted by Mill188
Posted by newlywedT
We're in the process of house hunting and we saw one house that has listed their property taxes (on the house form when you go to the open house) and its super low.
We looked up their neighbors tax payments and the people on either side (and one across the street) pay about 5k more. (same house style, size and same property style)
How is this possible?
We asked the agent and he said "Maybe they didn't grieve" - but in this case it would be that most people don't, which seems strange to me.
But we've never paid property taxes before (our property tax is part of our monthly maintenance fee) so maybe grieving is a long involved process that most people skip....?
Also does the amount of the grieve differ by person?
For example:
Person A - young, single person
Person B - older, retired married couple
Same house, lot, etc - would they get the same amount of grieve or would Person B get more off due to their circumstances? (like my dad pays half the property tax cost in queens because hes over 65, etc)
Thanks!
I do this for a living. There are so many variables that it would take days to explain. You cannot go by how much someone pays in taxes. It's all about assessment. You and I can have the same exact assessment, but pay different amount of taxes due to various exemptions. When house hunting, make sure you look at the assessment as well as the "amount of taxes." Someone can have low taxes, but you move in and get hit with a super high tax bill, because you lose all of their exemptions, or the assessment was artificially low due to no c/o's or permits that the former owner did nothing about until he/she was ready to sell.
All an assessment is is a percentage of market value. In order to be successful in a grievance for a single-family residential property, you must figure out a market value. To figure it out, take the assessment and divide it by the residential assessment ratio that is posted each year (it is different in every jurisdiction). You then have to prove that the home is less than the market value the taxing jurisdiction is claiming. You can do this by using comparable sales, an appraisal, or a recent sales price of the subject property.
Grieving your taxes through SCAR (small claims assessment review) is a relatively fast process. Claims are resolved within a year.
We bought our house 15 years ago. Our sellers had some exemptions, including a military/ veterans exemption. The nice part was that for the first year, the tax amount remained the same as the seller's tax amount. So, for that first year, there was a savings when compared to what our future tax amount was. Is that still the way it works? If so, that is something for buyers to be aware of. This was all disclosed to us, so we knew what would happen. It was just nice to save some money at the beginning.
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| Posted 4/19/21 7:01 AM |
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Momma2015
Mommax2
Member since 12/12 6655 total posts
Name:
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Re: Do many people Not grieve their taxes?
Posted by KarenK122
We grieve on our condo every three years and we get reduced every three years. It's not much but any bit counts. We have no grieved our house yet mainly because I don't have an extra few thousand around to pay the fee and I'm also afraid with my luck it will go up lol.
Seriously, I won't ever let a company do it again!
Join the FB group "Nassau Grieve Your Tax Assessment - Free". They walk you through it step by step. There's literally NO downside to grieving- it can't go up. The worst they can say is no reduction.
Jeff Gold, who runs the group, has a Firm that you can also hire to grieve for you if you're so inclined. I believe he also charges a FLAT fee of like $250 rather than what those major companies charge which is HALF of your reduction should you receive one.
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| Posted 4/19/21 2:07 PM |
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Bugaboo
Relax!
Member since 5/05 2133 total posts
Name:
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Re: Do many people Not grieve their taxes?
Posted by Mill188
Posted by LittleDiva
We always grieve when we are eligible (Suffolk). We have won twice. My taxes are significantly lower than my neighbors. I know one is concerned bc they have open CO’s so they don’t want to draw any attention to their house. The others, no clue.
open c/o's will not be caught because you grieve your taxes.
If your house description is incorrect on the assessment, let's say it lists an extra bathroom. Does the county send someone to your house to verify the inaccuracies?
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| Posted 4/19/21 2:50 PM |
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Mill188
LIF Adult
Member since 3/09 3072 total posts
Name:
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Re: Do many people Not grieve their taxes?
Posted by Kerie-is-so-very
Posted by Mill188
Posted by newlywedT
We're in the process of house hunting and we saw one house that has listed their property taxes (on the house form when you go to the open house) and its super low.
We looked up their neighbors tax payments and the people on either side (and one across the street) pay about 5k more. (same house style, size and same property style)
How is this possible?
We asked the agent and he said "Maybe they didn't grieve" - but in this case it would be that most people don't, which seems strange to me.
But we've never paid property taxes before (our property tax is part of our monthly maintenance fee) so maybe grieving is a long involved process that most people skip....?
Also does the amount of the grieve differ by person?
For example:
Person A - young, single person
Person B - older, retired married couple
Same house, lot, etc - would they get the same amount of grieve or would Person B get more off due to their circumstances? (like my dad pays half the property tax cost in queens because hes over 65, etc)
Thanks!
I do this for a living. There are so many variables that it would take days to explain. You cannot go by how much someone pays in taxes. It's all about assessment. You and I can have the same exact assessment, but pay different amount of taxes due to various exemptions. When house hunting, make sure you look at the assessment as well as the "amount of taxes." Someone can have low taxes, but you move in and get hit with a super high tax bill, because you lose all of their exemptions, or the assessment was artificially low due to no c/o's or permits that the former owner did nothing about until he/she was ready to sell.
All an assessment is is a percentage of market value. In order to be successful in a grievance for a single-family residential property, you must figure out a market value. To figure it out, take the assessment and divide it by the residential assessment ratio that is posted each year (it is different in every jurisdiction). You then have to prove that the home is less than the market value the taxing jurisdiction is claiming. You can do this by using comparable sales, an appraisal, or a recent sales price of the subject property.
Grieving your taxes through SCAR (small claims assessment review) is a relatively fast process. Claims are resolved within a year.
We bought our house 15 years ago. Our sellers had some exemptions, including a military/ veterans exemption. The nice part was that for the first year, the tax amount remained the same as the seller's tax amount. So, for that first year, there was a savings when compared to what our future tax amount was. Is that still the way it works? If so, that is something for buyers to be aware of. This was all disclosed to us, so we knew what would happen. It was just nice to save some money at the beginning.
The taxes will remain the same for the current taxing period. After that, they will increase and the exemptions will come off. Be aware, if they don't come off the first year, they will come off the second year and the taxing jurisdiction will re-levy the house and do a charge back so you will end up paying back any discount you wouldn't have been entitled to.
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| Posted 4/19/21 5:40 PM |
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Mill188
LIF Adult
Member since 3/09 3072 total posts
Name:
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Re: Do many people Not grieve their taxes?
Posted by Bugaboo
Posted by Mill188
Posted by LittleDiva
We always grieve when we are eligible (Suffolk). We have won twice. My taxes are significantly lower than my neighbors. I know one is concerned bc they have open CO’s so they don’t want to draw any attention to their house. The others, no clue.
open c/o's will not be caught because you grieve your taxes.
If your house description is incorrect on the assessment, let's say it lists an extra bathroom. Does the county send someone to your house to verify the inaccuracies?
It depends. You actually need a permit to do demo work so if the bathroom was on the property card to begin with, they will need to verify that it no longer exists and that it was removed properly. If it's a relatively new error, usually just a letter to the assessment department can cure it, but the best bet is to call over there.
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| Posted 4/19/21 5:42 PM |
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Momma2015
Mommax2
Member since 12/12 6655 total posts
Name:
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Re: Do many people Not grieve their taxes?
Posted by Bugaboo
Posted by Mill188
Posted by LittleDiva
We always grieve when we are eligible (Suffolk). We have won twice. My taxes are significantly lower than my neighbors. I know one is concerned bc they have open CO’s so they don’t want to draw any attention to their house. The others, no clue.
open c/o's will not be caught because you grieve your taxes.
If your house description is incorrect on the assessment, let's say it lists an extra bathroom. Does the county send someone to your house to verify the inaccuracies?
They might! I think if you apply for a reduction and reject it, they'll schedule a hearing (they've been virtual, not sure if they are back to in person), and from there they may schedule an assessment from the county.
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| Posted 4/19/21 5:49 PM |
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Mill188
LIF Adult
Member since 3/09 3072 total posts
Name:
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Re: Do many people Not grieve their taxes?
Posted by Momma2015
Posted by Bugaboo
Posted by Mill188
Posted by LittleDiva
We always grieve when we are eligible (Suffolk). We have won twice. My taxes are significantly lower than my neighbors. I know one is concerned bc they have open CO’s so they don’t want to draw any attention to their house. The others, no clue.
open c/o's will not be caught because you grieve your taxes.
If your house description is incorrect on the assessment, let's say it lists an extra bathroom. Does the county send someone to your house to verify the inaccuracies?
They might! I think if you apply for a reduction and reject it, they'll schedule a hearing (they've been virtual, not sure if they are back to in person), and from there they may schedule an assessment from the county.
SCAR hearings in both Nassau and Suffolk will be remote for the foreseeable future.
The hearing officer will not schedule any kind of reassessment from the County. The hearing officer will tell you that if you believe the information the County has is incorrect, you can contact the County to correct. It is on YOU to prove the County is incorrect.
If you are in Suffolk County, you are dealing with a much smaller assessing unit. If information your home is incorrect in Suffolk, contact your Town Assessor by phone. They're much easier to deal with than Nassau.
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| Posted 4/19/21 8:56 PM |
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