Tax assessments

[EightFingers]

Seems my properties in HPP are worth about (on average) 20% more than last year. I'm not seeing that in the real-estate statistics, tho'. Guess the county needs mo' money! []

[kalakoa]

Everyone is entitled to dispute the valuation of their property.

For example: helicopters.

[Lee M-S]

Mine in HA only went up about 1/2% in value.

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[macuu222]

My property went up in HPP a small amount but my home went down by the same amount...so no change

[Canuck]

I used to do property assessments on the mainland, and loved listening to nonsense complaints from homeowners.
- "My neighbor is assessed like a farm, I want farm class too." "Do you do any farming sir?" "No." "Well, then you can't get it."
- "My neighbor is assessed lower than me, I want to be lower too!" "He has a smaller lot and a house that is 30 years older than yours, sir." "Well they don't build them like they used to and he has less grass to cut."
- "The immigrants are buying all the houses in my area for twice what they are worth, but I'll die in this house before I sell!" "That doesn't mean your house isn't worth the assessed value, sir. 20 houses sold in a 3 block radius for these high values." "I'll be damned if I sell this house for a million dollars to an oriental!" "Yes sir, that is quite a dilemma to be in."

[csgray]

We appealed our taxes twice, we had them reduced both times because the assessments here are all over the place, before the extra discounts given for individual circumstances. You need to arm yourself with comparison values from sales of similar properties during a very specific window of time. This website lists selling prices for HPP land and homes, including the asking price, http://hawaiianparadisepark.com/ The downside is they raised the cost of appealing quite a bit, right around tripling it, making it not worth it for a lot of people.

You can also find your tmk on the county's website and then use the map to find and look up similar neighboring properties and their tax values, although with bare land they tend to just value most of the subdivision the same in any given year. I don't think lots in HPP are going up in price, I am still seeing lots sell for under $20,000. They also try to drop repossessions and short sales out of their data, claiming they are statistical outliers.

If Cunuck thinks what he saw elsewhere in the past is what is happening here, he doesn't know the local real estate market, or how our local tax guys work. I've seen Hilo houses that had recently sold for $350,000 that are assessed at $125,000 and taxed accordingly, this is for properties that get real police and fire protections and have paved and maintained roads, while HPP and Puna in general, homes and properties are taxed at the value of the recent selling prices.

Carol

[Kapohocat]

Last year I was actually in the tax office about something else, and asked just out of curiosity about my subdivision and how it is assessed. It was interesting in the calcs that go into the assessment. Very little of it is actually subjective, unless your house is completely falling down and the condition is not what is listed on the county website, or in line with the condition of other houses of similar SF and lot size.

And just FYI, they do not go by what the Bldg Dept shows as permitted in every case. They go by the actual SF that they have on file, or they can come out and check.

I have had them come out and measure two different houses as unpermitted portions had been torn down that were previously being taxed.