2014 Property Assessment

[me_dennis]

I did a quick search, and didn't find any threads on this topic.

Everyone should have gotten their 2014 Property Assessment by now. I just got mine last night. I was surprised to see that my assessed value is $90,000 more than what we paid for the house in December 2013.

I plan on appealing this assessment, and I have until March to do it.

Has anyone ever appealed their property assessment before? If so, what sort of information did you have to provide? If I were to just submit the purchase contract, with the price and date, would that suffice? Or would I need to get an appraisal from the bank or contact a realtor to do a Comparative Market Analysis, or something similar? From what I understand, I just need to prove to the assessor what the fair market value of my home is. I would think that since my house is the most recently purchased house on my block, that would be the best indicator of "fair market value".

Any tips would be appreciated!

Thanks.

[Knut]

I doubt you would get anywhere with your appeal. Look up your neighbors assessments on this website (https://assessmentsearch.calgary.ca/login.aspx) . see how it compares.

It actually has nothing to do with your purchase price either.

Our house assessment has increased 170,000k over the 3 years we have been there, but so have the majority of our neighbors and therefore an appeal would be pointless.

[AC]

I can tell you that the 2013 assessments on average were considered low for the 1st time in a long time, and the 2014s that I've seen so far are on average high again.

The appraisers that work for the city aren't known for being very good at their job...

Source: Am a residential appraiser (not working for the city).

[burn_this_city]

Our townhouse went down $10,000, which I thought was strange but whatever.

[OldDutch]

I think they actually have a science behind it, so unless you can show the science (ie: yours illogically follows your neighbors and is backed up by Sales data) is off I am not sure if you will have luck.

Ours went up $200K+ from 2009 to 2013. Then the flood hit and went down $70K (I am in Sunnyside and was flooded). I think that is not enough, but since there is no real sales data until sales are made post flood there isn't much we can say.

Believe it or not some of my neighbors actually went up, now I'd love to see them explain that one.

[sec304]

I think mine has gone up about $40k over the last 3 years

[kevman]

Originally Posted by me_dennis

Any tips would be appreciated!

Thanks.

You should be successful appealing based on an actual purchase price. I had a similar situation where my assessed value on July 1st was $50k more than an actual purchase price on June 1st. I won my appeal and my assessed value for the year was my purchase price. Considering Calgary prices have gone up from the assessed value date of July 1st to your purchase date in December you should be fine despite the fact the dates don't line up.

I have also heard of others that have had success arguing based on actual purchase prices. That said, from my experience it's hardly worth the effort cause they'll just move it back up and then some the following year.


As for 2014 I'm up 11% in Sunnyside after being flooded. Anyone else that was under water have their values go up? The media seemed to indicate I'd see a break on my assessment this year but that certainly wasn't the case.

[Ashartus]

If you want to appeal, you have to say why they have incorrectly assessed your property. That may have nothing to do with purchase price of your specific house since they use average prices. Where you might have grounds is if they described the property incorrectly. For example I successfully appealed once based on their assessment claiming my basement was developed, when the development was still underway.

[kevman]

Originally Posted by OldDutch

Believe it or not some of my neighbors actually went up, now I'd love to see them explain that one.

"We used aerial photos post flood to determine who was a victim of overland flooding and who was a victim of sewer flooding. Flood Fringe, Evacuation zone and Overland flooding were the 3 items considered for discounting values. Sewer back up was not a reason to reduce property values." Was the explanation I was given by the City.

Lose - Lose
Insurance - "The flooding storm sewer led to overland flooding which is not covered"
City - "From our aerial data you were sewer back up and as such your property value is not diminished"

[me_dennis]

This is quoted from the City of Calgary website http://www.calgary.ca/PDA/Assessment...ssessment.aspx

Residential property assessment: When we prepare residential property assessments, we will analyze market activity for similar properties in similar area that have sold during the same timeframe.

• Through analyzing properties that have sold, we are able to provide market value assessments to both the sold properties and those properties that didn't sell.
• This is called the sales comparison approach to valuation.

Wouldn't our house be considered a property that has sold? I don't understand why the purchase price wouldn't be considered.

Thank you for the link, I also checked the assessed value of my neighbours. My next door neighbour is assessed closer to what we paid, and his house is more similar in size. The other neighbours have much larger houses, with 3 car garages and over 3000 sqft, but my assessed value is closer to theirs.

[me_dennis]

Originally Posted by kevman

You should be successful appealing based on an actual purchase price. I had a similar situation where my assessed value on July 1st was $50k more than an actual purchase price on June 1st. I won my appeal and my assessed value for the year was my purchase price. Considering Calgary prices have gone up from the assessed value date of July 1st to your purchase date in December you should be fine despite the fact the dates don't line up.

I have also heard of others that have had success arguing based on actual purchase prices. That said, from my experience it's hardly worth the effort cause they'll just move it back up and then some the following year.


As for 2014 I'm up 11% in Sunnyside after being flooded. Anyone else that was under water have their values go up? The media seemed to indicate I'd see a break on my assessment this year but that certainly wasn't the case.

Out of thanks.

That's kind of what my thoughts were. The assessed value is as of July 2013 and I have not heard of Calgary housing prices dropping in 2013, so it would make sense if I paid more than (or closer to) the assessed value in Dec 2013, but the opposite happened. The numbers just don't logically make sense to me.

[nik-]

I'm in Sunnyside and mine went up more than 30% from last year ... sooo yeah.

[ericschand]

I went through this about 10 years ago. The assessed value was something like $50-60k over the purchase price.

I phoned and disputed the assessment as I had purchased the house a couple of months before.

They phoned me back with two people on the line. Essentially their argument was, "How do we know you aren't friends and they sold it to you for cheap?" What possible response is there to that? "Uh...well...they aren't my friends, how are you alleging that they are?"

From there they offered $20k above purchase price. After that, if I wanted to continue the dispute, I would have to pay a fee and have an in person appeal. The fee was non-refundable if I lost, if I recall correctly. So in essence, pay a fee, if I lose I lose the fee, plus take at least one day off work. I settled on the 20k.

However, the following year the assessed value rose dramatically. Then again the following year. My neighbours did not. Then everyone else had a huge increase but mine remained about the same.

You may win now, but you won't win down the road.

ers

[Smartcar]

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).

[troutman]

They should notice soon that the property was very recently transferred, and go towards the sale price for the assessed value. I bought in November and they quickly adjusted after learning the actual price. They did it automatically, but in my case the number went up.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by ericschand

I went through this about 10 years ago. The assessed value was something like $50-60k over the purchase price.

I phoned and disputed the assessment as I had purchased the house a couple of months before.

They phoned me back with two people on the line. Essentially their argument was, "How do we know you aren't friends and they sold it to you for cheap?" What possible response is there to that? "Uh...well...they aren't my friends, how are you alleging that they are?"

From there they offered $20k above purchase price. After that, if I wanted to continue the dispute, I would have to pay a fee and have an in person appeal. The fee was non-refundable if I lost, if I recall correctly. So in essence, pay a fee, if I lose I lose the fee, plus take at least one day off work. I settled on the 20k.

However, the following year the assessed value rose dramatically. Then again the following year. My neighbours did not. Then everyone else had a huge increase but mine remained about the same.

You may win now, but you won't win down the road.

ers

I think you might have to fight them twice. I bought a place and it was assessed at 50% more than I paid for it, and fought it. Won easily. The next year they jacked it again, and we fought it again. Still used the comp from our purchase, plus looked up assessments of similar units. That year the city person argued that our 2 bedroom condo was more similar to 3 bedrooms in another building, not comparable to the other two bedrooms that had sold in our building. Won again, and have been consistently lower than the neighbours since then.

[Bigtime]

In Sunnyside, flood damaged and my assessment went up. Will be appealing.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by troutman

They should notice soon that the property was very recently transferred, and go towards the sale price for the assessed value. I bought in November and they quickly adjusted after learning the actual price. They did it automatically, but in my case the number went up.

I've bought a property a few times at prices very different from its assessed values. When I paid over assessment, it got adjusted right away. When I've paid under assessment, it doesn't change.

[Bill Bumface]

Places in Elbow Park got hammered. It makes me want to buy a house there and sell it in 10 years when everyone forgets about floods again.

Oh wait, that requires money.

[flambers]

Originally Posted by me_dennis

This is quoted from the City of Calgary website http://www.calgary.ca/PDA/Assessment...ssessment.aspx



Wouldn't our house be considered a property that has sold? I don't understand why the purchase price wouldn't be considered.

Thank you for the link, I also checked the assessed value of my neighbours. My next door neighbour is assessed closer to what we paid, and his house is more similar in size.

The other neighbours have much larger houses, with 3 car garages and over 3000 sqft, but my assessed value is closer to theirs.

FYI....In my experience... A property assessment provides very little value for some one who is selling their home.

Its very miss-leading.