Property Taxes and Your Property

April is fast approaching and many of us have income taxes on our minds.  However, many of us don't consider our property taxes quite so much.  We presume that when we receive our Tax Assessor's Bill, that we simply owe those taxes and must pay them in April and November.  However, this is not actually the case.  When the Tax Assessor's Bill comes, be sure to read the fine print.  You have the right to dispute the assessed value of your home within the specific parameters that are provided and may be able to lower the amount you owe by hundreds, if not thousands of dollars.

You do not need a Realtor or access to the MLS to accomplish finding the appropriate comparables to your home.  You can use websites such as zillow.com and redfin.com to find properties that closed within your area and get a better representation of the comparables to your home.  I would highly recommend doing this, especially since many times the Tax Assessor may take comps that are not true to your homes value and may inflate the estimation and therefore the amount of money that you owe.

This is an example of recent homes sold near a property in Rancho Cucamonga.