Paul's Appraisal Blog

   I got a call the other day from a guy that was a little upset. He had just bought some property in Riverside county for $19,000 or so. When he got the tax bill, it was assessed at $38,000 and his taxes were about double what he thought they would be.

    It turns out that when you buy a property, you are taxed on what the assessor thinks it's worth, not what you paid on it. Many times, people get great deals either through bank-owned or short sales. They need to understand that if these properties were normal sales, with the appropriate amount of marketing exposure, they would sell for significantly more.

    This is why someone might buy a home for, say, $170,000, but be taxed on $225,000.  When the market was hot, the sales price was the market value. Now, market value is a little trickier to find, with all of the distressed sales going on.

    So, when you buy your house, don't be surprised if your tax bill is for more than what you bought it for. If you think there is a mistake, you can challenge it, but I think the assessor is pretty conservative in value.

    If you have a question, go ahead and shoot me an email at paulmcewen@cox.net or call me at 760-525-2742.