Sheesh! They can't even give houses away.

[Ocean2026]

I had started a link about this auction the day before it started and the response was no one was going to bother to show up.

A year or two ago, I posted that real estate taxes should be based market value- price paid and a few here attacked the idea. This is what happens with the present system- 80% of the properties did not receive a single bid- because they would have to pay outrageous taxes.

[jbd441]

I had started a link about this auction the day before it started and the response was no one was going to bother to show up.

A year or two ago, I posted that real estate taxes should be based market value- price paid and a few here attacked the idea. This is what happens with the present system- 80% of the properties did not receive a single bid- because they would have to pay outrageous taxes.

I have never owned property in Detroit but isn't there a system in place where a homeowner can contest the amount of his property taxes and meet with an arbitrator to prove his declining property values or if his property is not realistically assessed?

[2blocksaway]

I have never owned property in Detroit but isn't there a system in place where a homeowner can contest the amount of his property taxes and meet with an arbitrator to prove his declining property values or if his property is not realistically assessed?

So naive. Have you ever owned a property anywhere and tried to appeal the taxes? When you go to these hearings they give you about 2 minutes to explain why you think your property is worth less. Then in a few week you get another assessment in the mail with a minor reduction. Somewhere on it in small print it says that you can further appeal to the state if you still feel that your property is assessed too high.

I have been waiting to hear back from the state since April.

[shovelhead]

So naive. Have you ever owned a property anywhere and tried to appeal the taxes? When you go to these hearings they give you about 2 minutes to explain why you think your property is worth less. Then in a few week you get another assessment in the mail with a minor reduction. Somewhere on it in small print it says that you can further appeal to the state if you still feel that your property is assessed too high.

I have been waiting to hear back from the state since April.

It was WORSE in this state before Proposition A was adopted. For example:
We purchased a home in 1989. It was reduced in price twice before we bought it, and we paid less than the last asking price. In 1990, we received our assessment notification, using the original asking price as the basis of taxes due.

We appealed using comps listings and the sales documents to back our case. One of the appeals board members told me that in their opinion the house was worth the original listing price. My countering to that was that the house was vacant for six months in s sellers market [[at that time) and a true price is whatever a willing seller would take, and a willing buyer to give for a property.

The board agreed with my case, and granted a reduction based on my purchase price. A short lived victory, as the next assessment for 1991 jumped my assessment by 30%.

At least Prop A stops that happy B.S. by tying the increase to the inflation rate unless there is a major improvement to the residence like adding a room, or to the sale of the property..

Regardless of the arguments for more school funding, the tax structure in general, improving education et al, you have to admit that it is unfair to tax someone's primary residence at the same rate that, say a management company or on a smaller scale a landlord with ten or twenty properties turning a profit are. At a mimimum, there are a lot of people today that are living on the edge, that a increase in taxes would be disasterous. Not to mention senior citizens on a fixed income.