Written by California Attorney, Robert Lee Hamilton
Message from California Attorney Robert Lee Hamilton:
As we all know, property values have taken a deep drop in the past
two years. To make matters worst, the counties of California have
for the most part been neglectful in the reassessment of homes that
have decreased in values, thus causing thousands of properties to be
over-assessed. Reduce Property Taxes Now is intended to be an easy to
understand guide that may assist you in obtaining a fair assessment
of your home value and a correct tax bill.
Don't be a fool and don't be fooled by your local
county assessor.
Where were these county
assessors when your property values dropped from January-2006 to January-2007?
Don't believe any county assessor is on your side. By law,
the county assessor is the agency that will oppose your
appeal for a reduction in your property's assessment. It's
the same as being involved in a law suit and taking advice
on your case from the opposing attorney.
If your county assessor wanted to lower your taxes, their
office wouldn't require you to request a reduction. After
all, every county assessor knows (or should know) the value
or every parcel of property in their county since they have
the record of every sale of real estate and change of
ownership due to foreclosure.
REDUCE YOUR PROPERTY TAXES NOW!
A California Homeowner's Guide
If you have purchased your home
in the last six years, your California property tax may be assessed
at a value higher than what your property is worth, and...
YOU ARE PAYING TOO MUCH PROPERTY TAX.
Due to recent
real estate de-valuations, hundreds of thousands of California
property owners are paying hundreds or thousands of dollars in
property taxes on values that no longer exist.
However, most property owners have
no idea that there is any provision to reduce their property taxes
due to the decreased value of their property.
Your local county assessor will
not send you a notice
that your property taxes are set at the pre-housing bust rates.
Each county assessor has no obligation to inform any property tax
payer that they are over-paying their property taxes because real
estate prices have fallen. AS PROPERTY VALUES HAVE DROPPED,
PROPERTY TAXES KEEP GOING UP.
To avoid the avalanche of homeowners
complaining about these over-assessments, many county assessors
issued statements that they will examine each property's assessment
and reset the assessment to the correct current value. This is
obviously a complete falsehood.
Below is an estimate of the number of
single-family, owner-occupied homes in the following counties that
were purchased within the last four years:
Fresno County has
over 150,000, Orange County over 550,000, San Diego County over
500,000, Santa Clara County over 295,000,
Alameda County over 61,000, Butte County over 10,000, Contra
Costa County over 68,000, Kern County over 42,000,
Los Angeles County over 288,000, Placer County over
28,000,
Riverside County over 158,000,
Sacramento County over 80,000, San Joaquin County over
36,000, San Bernardino County over 338,000, Shasta County over
9,000, Solano County over 25,000 single-family
owner-occupied properties...
Even if each county assessor's office
had a staff of many hundreds (which they don't), it would be an
impossible task to assess so many properties in a timely manner,
considering these numbers don't reflect the thousands and thousands
of commercial buildings, apartment buildings, businesses, farms and
other properties that are required to be assessed each year.
By the date you receive your new
property tax statement, it’s too late to appeal your assessment.
You have to appeal your assessment within certain appeal dates that
are prior to receiving your bill.
Your current property taxes were
established by the purchase price of your home. There are no
provisions for a decrease in your property taxes, unless you appeal
your assessment.
Unfortunately, the current tax laws
make the process of reducing your property taxes difficult and
confusing.
That is why we created an
easy-to-understand guide which can assist you to:
have your property reassessed
to its current value, and
have your property tax
adjusted to the real value of your property
This guide will take you through the
laws regarding property tax assessment and the step-by-step process
required to apply for a reduction in taxes.
It includes each California County
Assessor's forms, required evidence of change of property value, and
most importantly, the appeals process.
The entire guide is written in
common language (not lawyer speak) and is easy to understand.
Why keep paying hundreds or
thousands extra in property taxes when you can have the complete
guide for only $39 (plus $10 shipping & handling) and REDUCE YOUR
PROPERTY TAX NOW!
January's property tax
assessments will cause California taxpayers to pay over
$2 billion extra in property taxes on values that no
longer exist. How much extra are you paying?
Our easy to follow guide can
help you to stop over-paying your property taxes.
Only $39 +S/H
GUIDE COVER
"Think
about it: The house you can buy today for $400,000, two
years ago people were standing in line to buy it for
$600,000."
(Ed Smith Jr., VP of governmental affairs and industry
relations for the California Association of Mortgage
Brokers, January 2008)
Are YOU
one of
these
people?
Join
the homeowners who are happy that they reduced their property taxes!
This
publication was created to provide you with
accurate and authoritative information
concerning the subject matter covered; however,
this publication was not necessarily prepared by
persons licensed to practice law in a particular
jurisdiction and it is up to you make sure the
information is current and up to date. Nothing
contained in this book is to be considered as
the rendering of legal advice for specific
cases, and readers are responsible for obtaining
such advice from their own legal counsel. This
book and any forms and agreements herein are
intended for educational and informational
purposes only. If you require legal or other
expert advice, you should seek the services of a
competent attorney or other professional.
Nothing contained herein is intended or written
to be used, and may not be used, for the
purposes of 1) avoiding penalties imposed under
the Internal Revenue Code, or 2) promoting,
marketing or recommending to another party any
transaction or matter addressed herein. Robert
Lee Hamilton- Attorney at Law - (530)
570-3898