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Old 08-23-2019, 06:05 AM   #25
jeffk
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I sold my lake house in Moultonborough in 2015 for 4.4% over the assessed value. The only time you really KNOW whether your assessment is accurate to market value is when you have money in hand from a sale.

Assessment is a complex ESTIMATION and all you can really hope for is that the evaluation criteria are fair and that they are fairly applied to all. Further, since part of the process is the resultant price of current house sales, it will always be a moving target.

If ALL the property in town was appraised for for 10% more and the budgets of the town/county/etc did not change, your property TAX would not change because your assessment would remain the same proportion of the overall town valuation. Lake property, like it or not, usually is rising faster in value because it is more desirable and prices are bid up. In bad economic times, it can also crash more.

If your property is proportionately a bigger slice of town valuation because its value has increased, you owe a larger proportion of tax. That's how property taxes (and income taxes) work. It the overall town value went up around 10% and your value went up 17%, you are likely to be paying more tax but how much is NOT a 17% tax increase. You won't know until the budgets and rates are officially set.

But be cheerful! If you WERE to sell, you would get more for your property! I was certainly happy that my lake house increased 3.3 times what I bought it for 21 years prior. And I didn't begrudge the higher property tax the increased value brought over the years. If I had bought NON lake property for the same original value, I would have paid less tax and made a LOT less money on the sale. PLUS, I got to live in it for 21 years! WHAT A DEAL!
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