Quote:
Originally Posted by me_dennis
I was surprised to see that my assessed value is $90,000 more than what we paid for the house in December 2013.
|
The assessments are based on value at July 1, 2013. They tend to look at sales up to July (except for the flood affected areas this year, they looked at sales after the flood to see the impact). So your purchase in December wouldn't have been known when they did the analysis. If you purchased on the MLS and there wasn't a big decrease in the market between July and December in your area (unlikely if it's in Calgary) your best course of action is to call the phone number and discuss it with the person who calls you back, likely they will offer a reduction. If you purchased privately you may find the purchase price doesn't carry a lot of swat.
If you don't get any satisfaction you have to consider whether it's worth the trouble to appeal. $90k in residential assessment was $569 in taxes last year. You have to pay the filing fee, put together your arguments, show up the day of the hearing. If you win you get the filing fee back, but you may not win if the assessment is within a reasonable range (i.e it makes a difference if it's 90k on 1.5m vs. 90k on 500k).