Challenging your Pima County Assessed Value to Lower Property Taxes

January 22, 2009 | By Kelley Koehler | Filed Under Tucson Homes Explained 

Question from the audience: How do you get property taxes re-assessed when you buy a foreclosed fixer-upper?

Answer: Any owner can challenge their property valuation, foreclosed fixer or not.  Please be aware that the Pima County Assessor doesn’t set tax rates, they merely determine the value on which your house is taxed.  At the assessor’s office, you can appeal, or challenge their listed value for your property.

In fact, the Pima County Assessor site has a section on how to go through the appeal process. 

Read through it carefully – if you miss a deadline, you’ll miss your chance to appeal.  You’ll need to prove that something is wrong with your valuation, such as:

  • the property record is incorrect, such as listing the wrong square footage
  • the full cash value is too high when compared to similar properties in your neighborhood that have sold at arms-length transactions

Because the assessor can use the last 3 years worth of sales, your assessed value is probably still going up – or at least mine did.  I’d love to hear from anyone who has gone through the appeals process here in Tucson – how long did it take, what was the outcome?

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