September 7, 2006 - The Friendly Assessor
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I don't know whether to chuckle or cry. A stranger came to my door today with one of those lanyards displaying a city ID at its end. We had the privilege of a personal visit from the city tax assessor. It normally isn't so funny to me, except we have the ugliest house on the block and it definitely needs repair! In my mind, it's the stately Victorian that it will be in a few years, but right now the picture says it all. It's a disaster.
Normal people hate seeing the assessor because they're afraid their property taxes will go up. Today I could only chuckle. I knew we had overpaid for the house but in the purchase of two properties togther, we came out okay. The assessor on the other hand had no idea about the package deal we had gotten.
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Several questions were asked regarding condition, number of rooms, etc. It became apparent the assessor did not know our home had been moved to its site or anything about its history. He was used to resistance from homeowners so was taken aback when I invited him into the house. I warned him that the inside was as bad as the outside. He didn't believe me . . . until he got 3 feet beyond the front door! The shock factor displayed on people's faces makes me laugh. They either see the potential or they don't.
Mr. Assessor began madly making notes. He determined the condition of our home to be "poor" for tax purposes. (Chuckle, chuckle.) He counted the number of bedrooms, baths, total number of rooms, and noted the new roof, windows and walls in two rooms. He checked "fireplace" even though it's no longer got a chimney! (Chuckle, chuckle.) He asked about our timeline for making the repairs and my reply, "Years," was noted. As he was exiting, he asked what I thought the value of the home should be and I gave my honest opinion. He agreed to "do what he could" to adjust the tax value down as much as he can. (Chuckle, chuckle.) Next year we will get a small break on our property taxes.
Mr. Assessor obviously was not a rehabber. He just couldn't see beyond the missing plaster and kitchen grafitti! We may be the only place in the city where a house actually loses value in the assessor's eyes in an appreciating neighborhood . Today it's funny, but will there be fallout for neighborhood values and what would be the impact if we sell our house before the house is done? Tomorrow, the joke may be on me and then I'll be crying. Tonight, however, I'm still chuckling!
(c) Bonnie Erickson 2006
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