7 Steps to Challenge Your Property Assessment

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.org. Seven steps to challenge your property assessment. Then it's on to your calls at 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. This is faith and finance, biblical wisdom for your financial journey. Real estate analysts predicted a property tax reckoning would happen this year and they certainly were right. The dramatic rise in home values has led inevitably to higher property taxes because, in most cases, assessments are automatically tied to property value.

While it's fun to get a notice from Zillow or realtor.com that your home value increased X thousand dollars last month, that's only a paper gain that you may never actually see if you don't sell your home. Meanwhile, higher property taxes are very real and you have to pay them now. The good news is you can challenge your property tax assessment.

It doesn't mean you'll win, but you can always try. By some estimates you have a 20-40% chance of being successful in challenging an assessment. Now, how do you go about doing that? Well, almost all jurisdictions have some form of appeal process, usually within 90 days of receiving a new assessment.

So how do you do that? Well, step one, check when the deadline is for appealing. It should be on your assessment notice, but if it isn't, you'll have to call your local assessment office.

Mark that on the calendar with a big red X. Step two, look at your assessment notice again to see how the process was done. In most cases, it's simply a percentage of the market value. Step three, make sure that your local assessment office has applied any reductions or credits you're entitled to. These are things like homestead exemptions and credits for veterans, the elderly and the disabled. You may have to show evidence that you're entitled to a particular benefit.

Very often, homeowners fail to take advantage of these breaks. Now, step four is to make sure that the official description of your property is accurate. Your local assessor's office should have a record card on file describing your property.

You can ask to see it. Look for discrepancies like an extra bedroom or bathroom that you don't really have. The assessor may be able to correct a mistake on the spot, so you don't have to make a formal appeal. More likely, you'll need step five, which is to start comparing your property to other homes in your neck of the woods.

Make sure you're doing it apples to apples. That means comparing your property only to those with similar features. Roughly the same square footage and lot size, the same number of bedrooms and bathrooms. If you don't have a basement, don't compare your property to others that do.

Even an unfinished basement can add 15% to a home's value. Now, if you see that you're being assessed a higher amount than similar properties in your neighborhood, you have grounds for an appeal. In step six, then, you start building your case. The appeal process itself will vary, so you'll need to check with your local assessment office to see how it's done and to get all the necessary forms. You'll need to gather and organize your evidence.

That would be the value of comparable homes you've dug up, photographs, and even blueprints if you have them. Use them to fill out the paperwork for your appeal. And finally, step seven, you file your appeal with the assessment office.

You may have to wait several months before you get an answer, and it may not be the answer you want, but that doesn't mean you should give up. Most jurisdictions have an appeals board where you can make your case in person. But if you end up in front of the board, stick to the facts and don't try to debate tax policy.

Save that debate for your elected representatives. You also don't have to do all of this on your own. If you're willing to shell out a few hundred dollars, you can hire an independent appraiser to get a more accurate value of your property. But first, make sure your jurisdiction allows outside appraisals and that your appraiser is certified by the Appraisal Institute or the American Society of Appraisers. You may be wondering if this is all worth it. Well, not if you discover fairly early in the process that your assessment is similar to comparable properties.

But if it isn't, and you appeal and win your case, well, you'll enjoy a lower tax bill year after year, and that would definitely be worth it. All right, your calls are next. The number 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. By the way, you can call that number 24-7. I'm Rob West, and this is Faith and Finance, biblical wisdom for your financial journey, helping you apply God's wisdom to the practical decisions you're making today.

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It's available on desktop or mobile. Simply go to faithfi.com and click app to get started. Welcome back to Faith and Finance. I'm Rob West.

This is the program where the 2300 verses on money and possessions found in God's word intersect with today's financial decisions and choices. The number to get in on the conversation? 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. All right, every line is full, so we're going to take as many questions as we can.

Let's head to Pennsylvania. Hi, Bev. Thanks for calling.

Go ahead. Hi, just a quick question. My husband is retired, late 70s. I'm retired as well, and I erroneously, I guess, have allowed a premium to be continued to be paid quarterly on a life insurance policy. It is $150 a quarter. Death benefit is $25,000 on him, and the cash value currently is $8,400 or something. My question is, are we better off just cashing that out and prepaying part of funeral expenses, or should I just keep paying the premiums and use it when it's needed?

Yeah. You're paying $50 a month, $600 a year for a $25,000 policy. The fact that you can get $8,000 out, if it were me, I'd reclaim that $600 a year, take that $8,000, and I'd put that in the bank personally. You can pre-plan your funeral expenses, which would allow you to make all the key decisions so loved ones don't have to make those decisions in an already difficult period, but then perhaps not prepay. Some folks like to prepay and have that done as well. The only thing to consider there is that a funeral home could go out of business. You may decide at some point to be buried somewhere else. Of course, if you wanted to go ahead and do it, there's plenty of folks that have a lot of peace of mind that that's done. But I think the key is the pre-planning.

So whether you put it in the bank at 4.5% and you boost your emergency fund and add $600 a year to it, or you go ahead and take that money and add some to it and prepay for the funeral expenses, I think in either case, if it were me, I'd probably drop that policy. Okay. Very good. Okay. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. All right, Bev. Absolutely. Thanks for your call today.

Narrows Park, Illinois. Hi, Storm. Thanks for calling. Go ahead. Hey, Rob. I love your program. I listen to it all the time. I've learned so much.

Thank you very much. My question is, every year around Christmas time, I have about $1,000 to $1,200 of spend on now five grandkids. Last year I had four, but I had a new one as of June 30th this year. And so I started, I decided, well, I don't want to bet Xboxes and all this kind of stuff anymore. So last year I decided to start buying bonds for them, like just $200 or something like that. And I was going to ask you if you thought that was a good idea because I will have that money available every year for them. Yeah, I like you investing it for them.

I mean, perhaps you may want to find a happy middle because they, I would suspect, enjoy toys at Christmas, but maybe you dial it back a little bit so you can give them something they will enjoy right now and invest for the future. In terms of the investment vehicle, are you using iBonds? Yes, iBonds.

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of the iBonds right now. I mean, they were very attractive, you know, whether it's maybe a little over a year ago when they were paying 9.6%. And then he is still attractive at 6.8%.

But now that they're now in the fours, and I suspect when they reset again in October, they're coming down even lower. And as a result of that, they're just not, you can do better than that in a high yield savings account. I think it really is going to come down to the time horizon for each child. As long as there's at least five years, preferably 10, which I know you have one that's one month old, well, I would invest that and probably some either exchange traded funds that capture the broad moves of the stock market, or just some high quality mutual funds that would allow it to grow over time. And you know, you can not only get the money that you're putting in, but the growth that would be associated with it as well.

Now for the 15 year old, the oldest, you're only three years out from potentially wanting to bless this child with that gift. And you probably don't want to put that at the risk of the market. So I'd probably just put that in a CD.

Right now you can get five and a half percent better than you get in the iBond, but it's completely safe and liquid. Now, you're not wanting to earmark this specifically for college. Is that right, Storm? No, because I want them to have the money just in case they decide to just open up their own business or go to trade school or something else. Sure.

No, that's great. So what I'd probably do if it were me is cash out those iBonds as long as they've been in there for a year. You've been getting a great interest rate the last year. I'd probably open a brokerage account, one for each of the grandchildren at Fidelity or Schwab. And then if you use Schwab, you could use the Schwab Intelligent Portfolios, which would be a way to create a passive index strategy. And it would be very low cost and it just capture the broad moves of the market. And then for those that have a time horizon of less than five years, I'd just buy some CDs. And then you could just automatically fund those.

It'll be very low cost. And when it's time to turn it over, you can bless them with a wonderful gift. How does that sound? That sounds great. Okay, very good. You're welcome, Storm. God bless you. Thanks for your kind remarks about the program today.

To Jolene in Omaha. Hi, go right ahead. Hi, yeah, I live on a disability. And I don't have a lot more coming in due to cancer stuff.

So I'm not able to like go work at all. And I'm taking care of the child on my own. So how do you keep afloat?

Yeah, you know, this is really challenging Jolene. I've counseled with hundreds and hundreds of single parents. And it's really just a matter of first doing the best you can with what God has provided. And that's always going to come back to limiting your lifestyle, having a spending plan, really thinking about carefully every expense, looking to keep lifestyle modest. So to the best of your ability, you can live within your means, because that's really the beginning point of everything.

And I realize that's easier said than done. Then when you have additional money coming in through a gift of somebody that identifies your need and wants to help, you know, try to keep your lifestyle in check. So you can build up that emergency fund over time, that's really going to be key to you being able to deal with the unexpected. You know, I would love to have one of our certified Christian financial counselors reach out to you, and it wouldn't be any cost to you for this, we'll pay for the cost. But, you know, just getting a fresh set of eyes on this, Jolene, somebody who can look at your situation, help you analyze your budget, make sure there's not anything you're missing there. You know, there's not any kind of secret sauce here with regard to how you go about this.

It's going to be challenging. But bottom line is, you know, this is also where the body of Christ comes in. And hopefully there are people on your path that will see the needs that you have along the way. And this is, you know, one of the ways God provides is hopefully people being generous with you and for you. And that means, you know, being willing to accept that assistance as it's provided as well. But at the end of the day, the only two things you can do are reduce your expenses or increase your income.

And once, you know, both of those are done fully exhausted, then it's just a matter of trying to create a plan that allows you to live within your means to the best of your ability. It's not going to be easy. And, you know, that's why hopefully people will come alongside you to encourage and support you along the way. So would you be open to having one of our counselors reach out to you? Yeah, that'd be such a blessing. Awesome. We'd love to do it.

All right, so you hang on the line, Jolene. We'll get your information. We'll have one of our CERT CFCs give you a call and over the phone and maybe through a video conference.

When you have some time, they can help you take a look at that budget and maybe give you some counsel in your specific situation. Thanks for being on the program. May the Lord bless you. Well, we need to take a break. This is Faith in Finance.

We'll be back after this. We're grateful for support from Movement Mortgage, who provides residential home loans in all 50 states guided by a mission to love and value people and a goal to redefine the mortgage process. Movement seeks to help others achieve their financial goals. You can find out more at movement dot com slash faith. Movement Mortgage LLC supports equal housing opportunity and MLS number 39179.

For licensing information, please visit NMLS consumer access dot org. We're grateful for support from Eventide Investments on the Faith in Finance program. Eventide's approach to values based investing is grounded in the belief that humankind was created in the image of God with intrinsic dignity, value and worth. Eventide calls this investing that makes the world rejoice. More information is available at eventide investments dot com. That's eventide investments dot com. Welcome back to Faith in Finance.

I'm Rob West. This is the program where the 2300 verses on money and possessions found in God's word intersect with today's financial decisions and choices. The number to get in on the conversation, 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. Let's see, to Chicago. Hi, Tiffany, you go right ahead.

Hi, I am calling because I do listen to your program on a regular basis. And I have pretty much shot myself in the foot. I have used shopping as a means of creating some happiness in my life after my children went off to college. They all went off last year together and I started spending money. And now I am in some credit card debt. And I just want to know, is there a certain somebody that I can call that would help me with this kind of coping mechanism, the addiction I have now to shopping?

Sure. Well, I'm so sorry to hear you're in this situation. And we certainly want to help you move forward from here.

And so you can honor the Lord as a steward of these resources. You know, I think the first step is really just to, it's going to be important to know whether your shopping habits, you know, have become extreme and certainly may constitute a behavioral issue, a true addiction beyond just occasional leisure shopping. And that is a very real thing. And, you know, often will take a mental health provider to help you recognize this, it sounds like you already have and then deal with this as a behavioral challenge and help you, you know, create healthy habits moving forward, so that you can get beyond this. I think, you know, reaching out perhaps to, you know, first your primary care physician, just to ask to a referral for a therapist, you know, could certainly check with your local church as well, we'd be happy to provide somebody that would help you look at the financial side, and help you get on a plan to deal with the finances, but money issues are hard issues.

And if there really is something going on underneath the surface, that really has, you know, taken a shopping habit and turned it into a true addiction, then obviously that needs to be dealt with. And depending upon the severity of it, you know, they'll work with you and create a plan to help you get beyond it because we need to help you find more healthy coping strategies to move forward. So let's do this. We want to get your information, get somebody in touch with you, and I'd love for you to reach out and get some help as well from a mental health counselor.

Stay on the line. All right, let's round out our program today. We've got a few more questions here we're going to try to tackle before we say goodbye.

To Indianapolis we go. Hi, Julie, thank you for calling. Go ahead. Hey, Rob, thanks for taking my call and thanks for what you do. I have $300,000 in various CD accounts. My specific question, should I try to manage that or take it out, try to manage it, or stick with the TD Ameritrade company because in fees I have paid $1,945 and I have only made $1,687. So I feel like I'm losing money because he charges $1.25. Yeah.

Well, here's the thing. I mean, if all you're going to do is invest in CDs, and I'm not saying that's a bad thing because I don't know anything about the purpose of this money, the time horizon on it, your age and risk tolerance. But if your objective is to own guaranteed products like certificates of deposit, then there's no reason for you to pay one and a quarter percent a year to invest in CDs. Now, typically an advisor is charging one and a quarter percent a year on a $300,000 portfolio is actively managing that account.

There might be a mix of some stocks and some bonds and yeah, maybe some CDs and money market, but it's largely stocks and bonds. And there's an intentional strategy there to protect and grow this money. And the one and a quarter percent is very appropriate because they're going to really try to protect what you have but outperform the markets in terms of growth. But again, if really your objective is to own guaranteed products like certificates of deposit, you're exactly right. There's no reason to pay a point and a quarter to do that. Because I've listened to you and I think I can try to ladder them myself and my credit union is 5.06 APR. Yeah, yeah.

That's great. The only thing I would say is these rates are probably fairly temporary. Now, when I say temporary, maybe the next couple of years, I mean, you could lock these up for five years right now in the fours if that's all you need. But if we're looking longer term, I mean, even in your 70s, I don't remember if you told me your age, but let's say somebody in their 70s, if you're in good health and the Lord tarries, you may need this money the last couple of decades or more. So I guess I would just wonder, you know, you don't want to take unnecessary risk, but is there a case to be made that some of this should be more actively invested so that long term, not while we're enjoying the five and a half percent in the CDs, but long term, you can outpace inflation and avoid losing the purchasing power due to inflation by getting this money working for you. Yes, you'd add some risk to the portfolio, but you'd also increase the potential return as long as you have a long time horizon.

I'm okay with that. What are your thoughts on that versus just staying with the laddered CDs? I'm 58, I'm a retired teacher, and I have $299,000 in a rollover IRA.

My kids are 19, 18, and 17. So hopefully I am going to be around a long time, but I've worked so hard to get that money into those CDs, and then I just feel like he's taking a bigger chip of it and isn't really doing much because CDs aren't that labor intensive. No, they're not.

Compared to... No, yeah. So I would agree with you, if you stay in CDs and you feel like that's the right place for you, and ultimately that's your call, you're the steward, then you're exactly right. You don't need a broker, you can do this yourself, you can ladder them up, and your money will be guaranteed by the FDIC as long as you don't go over $250,000 in any one institution with the same titled category of account. But I would just throw out that should you consider trying to get a little better return with a part of this so that over time you can outpace inflation, and if you decided to do that, well then I would say for that portion, he's going to earn or she's going to earn their fee of one and a quarter percent as they build a more actively managed portfolio. But if you want to stick with the CDs, great, and I would agree you don't need to be with an advisor to do that. You can absolutely do that yourself.

Make sure you check out bankrate.com as you're researching these CDs because that could give you some great options, probably with some online banks in addition to the one you mentioned locally that could be worth considering just as you try to maximize that return, again with an FDIC or NCUA insured credit union. Thanks for your call, Julie. I hope that helps you. We appreciate you being on the program. Dawn and Don, I apologize we didn't get to you.

Lynn can try to get your phone number. We'll see if we can get you scheduled for another broadcast. If you like today's program, why not share it with a friend, and while you're at it, share the Faithfi app with them as well. Help us get the word out. Thanks for listening and sharing, and I hope you'll come back and join us again next time for another edition of Faith and Finance. Faith and Finance is provided by Faithfi and listeners like you.