Keep your house nice? Amherst says you should be PUNISHED!

[FMD]

Ya know, it seems to me, that the more you do, to make your house look nice the more amherst wishes to punish you by raising your taxes. Maybne I should let my bushes over grow, and let my house go to ****, maybe then amherst would bring my stratosphere assessment back down to ground level. Because in all honesty, it seems as though the nicer you make you house look, the more amherst wishes to tax you. and to be honest here, im ****ing sick of it. and to you mods, go ahead 'warn me' cause i adding 'ing' to ****

[Anotherview]

Ya know, it seems to me, that the more you do, to make your house look nice the more amherst wishes to punish you by raising your taxes. Maybne I should let my bushes over grow, and let my house go to ****, maybe then amherst would bring my stratosphere assessment back down to ground level. Because in all honesty, it seems as though the nicer you make you house look, the more amherst wishes to tax you. and to be honest here, im ****ing sick of it. and to you mods, go ahead 'warn me' cause i adding 'ing' to ****

FMD: Weren't you going to meet with the town about the increase in your taxes? Did you ever meet with them and if so, anything positive to tell?

[MarkLV]

I think most modern re-assesments these days are generated by computer programs that search for recently sold homes with the same details as your own. The days of the old fashioned drive-by have gone the way of the horse-and-buggy, yes?

In my situation, there have been no less than 6 brand new subdivisions built within a couple miles of my home, and all of them are upscale units that are valued much higher then mine could ever be when compared side by side. But since they have mostly the same details as mine (3BR/3Bath/2Car attached/brick/fireplace, Sq.Ft., etc), then the comparisons are deemed to be valid.



Fiddlesticks, I say. But thats how its usually done.

[absolivious]

....In my situation, there have been no less than 6 brand new subdivisions built within a couple miles of my home, and all of them are upscale units that are valued much higher then mine could ever be when compared side by side. But since they have mostly the same details as mine (3BR/3Bath/2Car attached/brick/fireplace, Sq.Ft., etc), then the comparisons are deemed to be valid.

Fiddlesticks, I say. But thats how its usually done.

Sounds to me as though you have a reasonable argument. All, you need to do is find five comparable sales that you feel are closer to the type of market your home represents.

Hint: In our case we found the best way to truest comparison was to back out the assessed land values then compare the remaining AVs on a dollars-per-square-foot basis to ours. You can do it easily in Excel.

[PlayingKoi]

and to be honest here, im ****ing sick of it. and to you mods, go ahead 'warn me' cause i adding 'ing' to ****

Hey now! I'm not going to slap you unless you bypass the filters! I'm down with your angst. the whole situation stinks. I know someone who's house was assessed for almost $40,000 more than an identical house across the street. What's more, they both were assessed for a large amount over what another cookie cutter just was bought for down the block.