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View Full Version : Property Tax Scam meeg124 02-10-2009, 07:27 AM http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20090209/ARTICLES/902090194/1334/NEWS?Title=Watch_out_for_property_tax__scam_ We got one of these "bills". They are very official looking and if you don't pay attention, I can see where people would fall for this. khanson 02-10-2009, 07:36 AM Thank you so much for posting this Megan! I saw a teaser on the news but I forgot to watch it. We got that letter and I thought Great! It'll be lowered more! I'll be shredding it now :giggle Sara 02-10-2009, 07:44 AM I got that on Saturday and was going to post about it here but forgot. I'm glad the PD picked up on it, I wanted to report it, but didn't know where to go. I hope not too many people fell for it. tggrr2 02-10-2009, 08:02 AM If you look at your last tax bill and call the County they will do it for free. Shawna 02-10-2009, 08:18 AM We got one too and it freaked me out because it claimed my house had dropped another ~94K. It was already reassessed last year for ~150K lower then when we bought it, so another 94K would have totally sent me into a panic attack. I sure hope a lot of people don't fall for this scam. CrystalD 02-10-2009, 08:25 AM This is pretty crappy! I hate hearing about stuff like this. I did not receive one of these letters, but I did receive a official looking 'loan modification' letter regarding my adjustable mortgage...funny thing is that I don't have an adjustable mortgage, but it had my loan agency and everything on it. I called the number on the letter and the man was very rude. I really hope people don't buy into these scams. It is sad that we are in this mess (re: real estate/loans) anyway and then people still trying to pull this. tggrr2 02-10-2009, 08:37 AM You can get somewhat of an idea but it's not 100%. www.zillow.com Kellie_MO5 02-10-2009, 08:39 AM hmm, time to make a call to the IL's... something just like that came in the mail for my FIL so I just took it over and dropped it off Saturday ladybish 02-10-2009, 08:57 AM we got one of those, too. surmick 02-10-2009, 09:05 AM we got one too. I showed it to the hubby because I could not believe what people were trying to do. Theresa 02-10-2009, 09:13 AM yup, i got one and a bunch from loan companies. they go right in the trash. Luckylove 02-10-2009, 09:14 AM We got one and it happened to be 3 days after we faxed in the request form to have our property taxes re-evaluated! Thanks goodness I saw the article before we sent the cash in! CrystalD 02-10-2009, 10:38 AM http://www.sonoma-county.org/Assessor/HTML_Documents/WaystoSave/Frameset_WaysToSave.htm Property Value Decline Provision The State Constitution of California mandates that certain criteria be met before the County Assessor can reduce an assessment. These criteria are: The change must reflect the market value of the property on the last lien date, January 1. Value changes affect only the regular January 1 Assessment Roll. Supplemental assessments are not affected. For residential properties, a reduction in assessment will be determined by the analysis of sales of comparable properties in your neighborhood. The majority of these sales must be for less than the current assessment on your property. By law, all comparable sales used to temporarily revalue your property must have been recorded no later than 90 days from the January 1 lien date. If you can provide the address and approximate dates of the sales or listings that meet these criteria, you can facilitate the review of your property. All reductions are temporary. After any reduction is made, your property must be reviewed annually to determine if market conditions indicate that your assessment should be returned to its base year value. Your assessment can never increase above the base year value plus the appropriate cost of living adjustment allowed by Proposition 13. For more information please click here. If you have further questions, or for a copy of the application form, or for assistance completing and submitting the form, please visit our offices, write us, or contact us by telephone or email. Debbie 02-11-2009, 02:43 PM We got one of those letters too.. I threw it away, but I seem to remember on the back in small print it disclosed that they were a private company selling a service, that you could request the reassesment yourself but that they would handel that and all the paper work that went with it.. I dont know how much leg work would be involved.. but anyway, it was there, just in the small print. CrystalD 02-11-2009, 04:55 PM Wait! I just checked my mail and got one too! I hope no one falls for it. |