Hi! My husband is a retired Montgomery county property tax assessor. If you feel your property tax assessment is unreasonably high, and you want somebody to handle the appeal for you, feel free to contact him as he has inside knowledge and connections in this area. He will appeal the assessment on your behalf and there is no fee unless your property tax bill is reduced. His fee is 50% of your property tax savings for the 1st year out of a 3 year cycle. Which means your savings will be free for the other two years. If interested, please send a message to Mikebl32@verizon.net and write in the subject “assessment appeal”.

Anonymous wrote:It did not go up 34 percent
MOCO caps at 10 percent per year
Learn math people

Well OP is asking about the state property tax so…

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just received the new assessment for our house in Moco. The new value is 34% higher than three years ago. We want to appeal but need to know where to start.
1. It is oaky we do it ourselves? Are prices from recent closed houses near us good enough for appealing? What kind of additional documents are needed?
2. If we want to hire a lawyer, where to find them and how much it costs on average?

If you have successfully appealed tax assessment on your house previously, any tips for winning strategies.

I think you probably can appeal

Although statewide legislation caps increases at 10 percent annually, many local governments have implemented lower caps. Residents can apply for The Homeowners' Tax Credit which sets a limit property taxes owed based on income for qualified candidates.

There's also a Homestead Tax Credit that caps a resident's yeary taxable assessment regardless of income level.


https://www.wmar2news.com/maryland-property-values-rose-20-percent-likely-increasing-tax-bills#:~:text=Although%20statewide%20legislation%20caps%20increases,on%20income%20for%20qualified%20candidates.



https://www2.montgomerycountymd.gov/estimatedtax/

Have a question or comment about our system?
Here is the contact information:
OCP Phone Number: 240-777-3636
OCP Fax Number: 240-777-3768
OCP General E-mail: ConsumerProtection@montgomerycountymd.gov

Anonymous wrote:We just received the new assessment for our house in Moco. The new value is 34% higher than three years ago. We want to appeal but need to know where to start.
1. It is oaky we do it ourselves? Are prices from recent closed houses near us good enough for appealing? What kind of additional documents are needed?
2. If we want to hire a lawyer, where to find them and how much it costs on average?

If you have successfully appealed tax assessment on your house previously, any tips for winning strategies.

I think you probably can appeal

I have a townhouse and my assessment went up 10%, which is accurate. I'm jealous of all of you owners of SFHs who had such incredible appreciation the past few years.

Anonymous wrote:I’ve successfully appealed. First, ask for the assessment details and make sure the info they have is correct.
I also requested info of what they used as sales comps.
What doesn’t work is if you show other properties that have a lower assessed value.

As an aside, I was surprised that the assessed lot value increased so much less than the building- which doesn’t make sense at all.

Most of the land here is worth more than the homes on top of it.

Construction and renovation costs have increased significantly since the pandemic across the board. How much land value increased depends on the neighborhood. So it makes sense that the reassessment hows higher improvement values.

Normally, land values increase and improvements depreciate.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve successfully appealed. First, ask for the assessment details and make sure the info they have is correct.
I also requested info of what they used as sales comps.
What doesn’t work is if you show other properties that have a lower assessed value.

As an aside, I was surprised that the assessed lot value increased so much less than the building- which doesn’t make sense at all.

If you have a good location, the value is in the land. Too many people are here. The land (esp. if someone can build a 4-plex eventually!) is worth more.

Correct - which is why it’s strange that the assessed value for the land has increased substantially LESS than for building .Bethesda inside beltway.

Good luck and report back OP.

This is the county of spend, spend, spend, and they can only do so with your (and our) money.

Anonymous wrote:I’ve successfully appealed. First, ask for the assessment details and make sure the info they have is correct.
I also requested info of what they used as sales comps.
What doesn’t work is if you show other properties that have a lower assessed value.

As an aside, I was surprised that the assessed lot value increased so much less than the building- which doesn’t make sense at all.

If you have a good location, the value is in the land. Too many people are here. The land (esp. if someone can build a 4-plex eventually!) is worth more.

Oh, for the comps, I showed them pics of recently sold houses with their renovated kitchens and bathrooms and then of our original kitchens etc.
Or their brand new gas generator and landscaping

It did not go up 34 percent
MOCO caps at 10 percent per year
Learn math people

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve successfully appealed. First, ask for the assessment details and make sure the info they have is correct.
I also requested info of what they used as sales comps.
What doesn’t work is if you show other properties that have a lower assessed value.

As an aside, I was surprised that the assessed lot value increased so much less than the building- which doesn’t make sense at all.

Unless it's a new build, the house itself isn't worth as much as the land.

Exactly, that’s my point —- but the lot is now assessed lower than the building, which is 30+ years old.

Honestly, I don’t remember all the details, but it was all in the info on how to appeal-
I actually did it twice. First time I’d requested meeting with assessor, who agreed with me. Second, I think it was a second level of appeal - with a board.
That’s MoCo.

Anonymous wrote:I’ve successfully appealed. First, ask for the assessment details and make sure the info they have is correct.
I also requested info of what they used as sales comps.
What doesn’t work is if you show other properties that have a lower assessed value.

As an aside, I was surprised that the assessed lot value increased so much less than the building- which doesn’t make sense at all.

Np. Thanks for this information. How did you ask for these details? An email? Phone? More detail about the logistics would be helpful.