How can major storms affect your property taxes?
Hurricane Hermine has been a powerful reminder of the danger of storms. Last month the East Coast was flanked by two tropical storms at the same time. Those who lived through Sandy know how bad it can get, but this is a factor everyone needs to be vigilant about all the time. Yet, aside from personal safety, and hoping your home isn’t washed away, severe weather can impact your property taxes too.
Ability to Pay
For a start storms can seriously impact your ability to pay your property taxes. They can mean missed work, job loss, and physical loss of money, emergency expenses, and limiting access to money.
Raising Your Property Tax Bills
Local damage and interruption of services, or even the prevention of future damage can result in extra expenses for local government. Those are likely to be passed on to local property owners through assessments and property tax bills.
Increasing Your Property Value
If other local properties are damaged or destroyed, and that results in intense demand for what’s left of existing and usable housing stock your home value can go up. If commercial real estate and home values go up, then authorities are likely to raise assessed values. That means higher annual property taxes.
Devaluing Your Home
Damage to the neighborhood, desirability to live locally, and physical damage to your property can devalue your home. When your property value drops so should your tax assessment. Of course you shouldn’t expect that they will be in too much of a rush to reduce your tax bill, even if they should.
You can challenge your tax assessment and property tax bill, work out a payment plan, and maybe even get a refund. Contact Property Tax Adjusters, Ltd. today to find out what you may be entitled to…