May 26, 2008 issue

By Linda Stern

Those plummeting house prices may hold a bit of good news for homeowners who want to cut their property taxes: homes that were assessed during the height of the housing bubble may now qualify for reassessment at a lower level. Typically, property taxes are calculated by multiplying a tax rate against the property’s assessed value. Every local county or district has its own appeal procedures and deadlines, so check your local government’s Web site for the specifics. But the basic order of events is this: check your latest assessment to make sure it accurately lists the dimensions and details of your home. Then find out what your neighbors are paying. Municipalities publish these records; find them at publicrecords.netronline.com, on your local government’s Web site, or by going into the tax assessor’s office and asking to see the records. Review what’s happened to prices in your neighborhood since you were assessed at zillow.com or with a local real-estate agent. If there have been significant declines, you can appeal the assessment the next time you get a tax bill or assessment notice. And now for the not-so-good news: state budget crunches are causing many municipalities to consider raising their property-tax rates, even as they are forced to lower assessments. So even if you get a downward reassessment, you could end up with a bigger tax bill anyway.