Do you want to pay less real estate taxes?

I am not a CPA or an attorney. This is not meant to be tax or legal advice.

But, I am a homeowner in Lucas County, Ohio.

Recently we received notices that the value of our home had increased. Yes, the county was aware that things were happening in the real estate market. They figured our home was worth 25% more now than the last time they checked in 2018.

With that increase in market value we were due to see our property taxes increase. The letter from the county commissioner tried to temper the dread by saying, in so many words, "don't worry, your taxes won't go up exactly proportionally".

So, enough with my troubles. How can my problem lessen yours?

First, take a look at your county's website. In Lucas County the link is:

https://icare.co.lucas.oh.us/LucasCare/search/commonsearch.aspx?mode=address

I started by putting in my street name and looking at the market values assigned to other houses. I found one that seemed low compared to our value.

I figured that their market value should have been way higher when you compared square footage. The other house even had a new inground pool. I was armed with a good "comparable".

So I set up a time to talk with someone in the Auditor's Office. All done online.

They called me at the prearranged time and we discussed my concern. I also shared with them our home is closer to a main road than other houses in the neighborhood and might fetch less due to the road noise.

They did ask a couple "knock-out" questions early on- did we buy our house in the past three-years and have we refinanced or had our house appraised in the past three-years? Good questions, as either situation would set an "arms-length" value in the recent past.

They asked what market value I thought was fair. I gave them an ambitious number.

A letter arrived two weeks later. In the end our market value went up. Instead of the initial 25% bump in value the increase was held to less than 3%.

Doing some rough math, the wife and I will save about $100 a month in real estate taxes. $3,600 until the next market value adjustment. I'll take those kinds of returns on my time any day.

Again, no "expert" here. But, let us know if we can answer any general questions or if we can point you in the right direction.