Taxable/Assessed Value Appeals

[MinnesotaEric]

Zillow is a laughing stock among the realtors I've worked with. They all hate it.

Comps are based on actual selling price, and realtor.com is the best place I've found for that info.

Here is the deal: companies like Zillow represent a threat to realtors (I'm a licensed MN Real Estate Broker) because the number one thing that realtors do and the only way to justify the broker's commission is to drive traffic to your listing. But Zillow drives traffic and realtors must pay Zillow to get the leads from Zillow. The busier the realtor, the more money that one realtor can afford to pay and the more local traffic Zillow will provide that realtor. But if you do not have a zillion sales, you cannot afford to pay Zillow for leads and so you talk smack about Zillow as being bad to clients.

Personally, more power to Zillow. It is slowly providing better and better data and the only reason it cannot get MLS data is that Realtor Associations are fighting companies like Zillow at every corner.

And why would Realtor Associations do that? Because they are privately owned money printers.

I'll give you an example: in order for me to list anything on a MLS (to drive traffic and hopefully improve the chances of selling), I must first pay about $750 a year to the Minnesota Association of Realtors (MARS). Then I can pay an additional $120 every two months for access to the MLS. So over the course of a year, every broker and active real estate agent must be a member of MARS and must pay the access fee. Thus the Association receives over a grand a year from every realtor and broker.

It is like printing money.

As a broker, I do not need to join the association, but if I want to drive traffic from my local real estate pros, I need to list on the MLS and to get there, I must pay and pay.

So more power to companies like Zillow.

 

[TomSeller]

with my agriculture exemption on the land, I really can't complain paying $1,800 a year in property taxes for my house and 68 acres of land.
Eddie

Wow. Nice.

 

[NorTracNY]

God bless you. I've been through the process twice with my place. I have no advice other than be prepared to sue if you really want it reduced. We had two different town assessors with the attitude, of "I don't care about fairness. I only care about winning a fight with you to reduce the assessed value." The first one just said, "That's what the computer says, so that's your assessment." They are required to supply you with 3 comparables. Both times, the comparables they supplied were assessed for about half what they were looking to assess us at. I guess I don't know what the word comparable means. In both cases we won, but suing was required. Good luck....

 

[charlz]

Maybe zillow is slowly getting better but I read this article not too long ago about how far off it can be in some areas.

LA Times

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Here is the deal: companies like Zillow represent a threat to realtors (I'm a licensed MN Real Estate Broker) because the number one thing that realtors do and the only way to justify the broker's commission is to drive traffic to your listing. But Zillow drives traffic and realtors must pay Zillow to get the leads from Zillow. The busier the realtor, the more money that one realtor can afford to pay and the more local traffic Zillow will provide that realtor. But if you do not have a zillion sales, you cannot afford to pay Zillow for leads and so you talk smack about Zillow as being bad to clients.

For the scenario outlined above to work, Zillow would somehow have to present listings that are not on the MLS, yet every listing I see on Zillow has an associated MLS number. I'm just a guy that's bought and sold a few houses in the last ten years, and I HATE Zillow because the listings I see on Zillow are often incomplete, have inaccurate info, and the Zestimate very seldom reflects actual market conditions. When ever I want the best info for a house, I go to the listing agent's web site. They're the only ones with hand/eyes on experience with the property. Most people shopping for houses know this, and use many real estate web sites as a result. I've found that the best web sites are maintained by agents in the same locality as the house being listed, not the nation wide sites like realtor.com or zillow.

In my experience, pushing customers to a sale is a given for any realtor. Really good realtors smoothly deal with issues that invariably come up during the transaction, promptly return email and phone calls, keep appointments, and pull in trustworthy and reliable repair people when needed. The BEST realtors earn their commission by negotiating a deal that is the best available for their client, and THAT's what makes them worth their commission.

Zillow and similar Internet services can never perform those functions, and a good agent should never feel threatened by them.

 

[Parkanzky]

Maybe zillow is slowly getting better but I read this article not too long ago about how far off it can be in some areas.

LA Times

I agree that their estimates are basically worthless. But you can also show recent sales on the map, so it's a nice way to gather comps.

 

[Parkanzky]

For the scenario outlined above to work, Zillow would somehow have to present listings that are not on the MLS, yet every listing I see on Zillow has an associated MLS number. I'm just a guy that's bought and sold a few houses in the last ten years, and I HATE Zillow because the listings I see on Zillow are often incomplete, have inaccurate info, and the Zestimate very seldom reflects actual market conditions. When ever I want the best info for a house, I go to the listing agent's web site. They're the only ones with hand/eyes on experience with the property. Most people shopping for houses know this, and use many real estate web sites as a result. I've found that the best web sites are maintained by agents in the same locality as the house being listed, not the nation wide sites like realtor.com or zillow.

In my experience, pushing customers to a sale is a given for any realtor. Really good realtors smoothly deal with issues that invariably come up during the transaction, promptly return email and phone calls, keep appointments, and pull in trustworthy and reliable repair people when needed. The BEST realtors earn their commission by negotiating a deal that is the best available for their client, and THAT's what makes them worth their commission.

Zillow and similar Internet services can never perform those functions, and a good agent should never feel threatened by them.

We purchased our current home through what Zillow calls a "Make Me Move" listing. The sellers did not have an agent and the home was not on the MLS.

We worked with a couple of Realtors over the course of our most recent home search. We had very specific wants and looked on and off for a couple years.

We never seriously looked at a house that a realtor found for us. Anytime a realtor took us to a home, it wouldn't meet at least a couple of our criteria. I'm really disillusioned by the real-estate process. I feel like more open access to the MLS system and some clever third-party entrepreneurs could really turn the system around. Photographers to handle the pictures, a service to handle the showings, and someone to fill out the paperwork shouldn't cost 7%.

 

[orezok]

In 1978 California voters passed Proposition 13 which limited property taxes. The property is assessed at the sales price for the property and can only be increased by 2% per year. If you bought your house in say 1979, that is your assessed value plus the 2% per year increase. It stays locked. Nice huh?

 

[RedNeckGeek]

In 1978 California voters passed Proposition 13 which limited property taxes. The property is assessed at the sales price for the property and can only be increased by 2% per year. If you bought your house in say 1979, that is your assessed value plus the 2% per year increase. It stays locked. Nice huh?

That's not how it worked when I purchased this home in CA in '10. The assessed price was what ever the assessor felt it was worth. I had to appeal the assessment to get it down to the actual selling price. Now they're increasing the value each year, but have stayed under the 2% limit so far.

Seems like there are attempts to repeal Prop 13 every year, and I'm happy that they've been unsuccessful. I don't see how people on a fixed income can hang onto their homes in a rising property tax environment.

 

[orezok]

That's not how it worked when I purchased this home in CA in '10. The assessed price was what ever the assessor felt it was worth. I had to appeal the assessment to get it down to the actual selling price. Now they're increasing the value each year, but have stayed under the 2% limit so far.

Seems like there are attempts to repeal Prop 13 every year, and I'm happy that they've been unsuccessful. I don't see how people on a fixed income can hang onto their homes in a rising property tax environment.

Sounds like you assessor violated the law. You should notify the District Attorney and local news media. They like this kind of story and it could help a lot of people.