I quit my job as a property tax appraiser

Are you saying that tax assessors just make up numbers?

At the end of the day, there is a flash and blood man or woman who must actually pull the levers for the gears of the machine to turn

I filed an appeal 4 years ago, went to the 'meeting' with a page full of comps saying my property was worth 25,000 LESS than what they said.

They sent a letter saying I was wrong, they were right...

3 years later my property value miraculously lowered 30,000 dollars, with those of everyone else in my city.



Hope you find something personally gratifying OP, go with your passion, whatever has always made you happy but never thought of making a career out of.

Oh wow..there should be something you could fall back on eh?

Most that I work with just enter the data into a computer and go with what the computer generates. They don't really analyze the data, as long as it comes within an acceptable range to the comparable properties.

I know that we over-inflated values the past 4 years even in a down market. We also hit commercial business hard.

awesome God knows your trying dont worry about that good for you man!!!!the vibrations have gone up a bit!

Thanks. I have enough money saved up to live on for a couple years. I am thinking about going back to school..meteorology.

I know that we over-inflated values the past 4 years even in a down market.


busted...good for you for getting out.

Good for you man, good for you.

Fucking San Diego just jacked my property taxes up by another 800 bucks this year, based on a re-assessment of my properties value. /sigh

Every year it goes up, no matter what. How are properties worth so much when almost nobody can afford them? /sigh

Get into the INFOSEC (information security) field. It's fun, it pays well, and in high demand. I myself do certification and accreditation (not the best thing, but so many people dislike doing it makes the skills valuable), but you can also do penetration testing, hacking into computers (they're called Red Team and they get paid to hack into systems), defend them against Red Teams (called Blue Teams) etc. You could do certified network defense or something similar.

It's a burgeoning field with lots of opportunity. Yeah, you're stuck behind a desk sometimes, but not all the time - and I'm sure that's something you're ok with anyway.

Good luck, Bear. I hope something great comes your way.

I am right there with you, I will be walking out after 25 years in the tech business. Probably going to look at switching to a mechanic of some sort.

do all the city employees get reductions?

Don't count out food service. Make it right, and the feeling is the greatest. Just keep the overhead LOW.

I plan on going the vendor/food truck route, but I love the walkup/drive-thru setup too. I wouldn't mind a parking lot kiosk either. Got to get a really good location though.

I've seen this in insurance replacement cost values, they're out of whack and just keep going higher...

This is not quite correct because they can't willy nilly reduce your property value without impacting the comps. It's all "pre-arranged" really. If it were legit, then everyone's property value would have reduced during the recession, but they did not,

The state tax commission provides the local indexes, economic indexes, tax rates, depreciation schedules..etc..
A lot of the work is done behind the scenes at a higher level, not at the local county level.

The county level basically collects the data and enters it into the system. The value is generated using local comps, but the multipliers come from elsewhere.

What prompted me to leave...this year as we were working on determination of final value...the average increase was 25% residential and 40% commercial. I had not seen any indication in my sales analysis that justified any increase at all. When I tried to reduce values, I was raked over the coals as to why I was making said adjustments, and my argument fell on deaf ears. The other 6 appraisers in the office just went with the figures and didn't question anything.

Another thing that really bothered me was the sharing of information with other government agencies, including state and federal. Primarily sales information for capital gains tax collections. Also an interesting query I saw was for homes that had wood stoves and fireplaces...

Tax appraisers are some of the lazies people I ever met. They just assign arbitrary numbers to everything. They priced my house and property for 10 million when I never even paid even a hundred thousand for it, ever. Just because I do some repair works, make things look nice, all of the sudden I'm a billionaire.

That's the dirty little secret politicians use. They brag about how good of stewards they are with taxpayers money and how once again they don't need to raise taxes. Instead they just raise the value of your property and the tax increase is hidden!!

Once the comps are set, you can adjust value to the intial property by changing some factors. There isn't a lot of wiggle room but there is some room for 10k-20k reductions, anything beyond that is hard to accomplish. The only time a change in property affects comps is when property is re-comped for the next appraisal period.

Since assessment information is public record, I suggest you look up the local, county, and state employees and politicians assessments. Compare their year on year valuations and that of their neighbors. You might find some interesting stuff...

ya i know it is the case in my area

Exactly. You have a deadline to file for review on a complicated assessment notice that is misleading. After the deadline has passed, a few months later the mill levy is applied and you see an increase in your tax. Unfortunately, you dont see that increase until after you have missed the deadline for filing a review.

I'm fascinated. Please explain more about your last line there: wood stoves?

Good for you ! I wish you well on your new journey...

One small reason I moved to Mexico is that you pay less then $200 a year on property taxes.

The other more important reasons : Warm weather, beautiful beaches, fantastic food, gorgeous latina women, can fly to Vegas or Texas from here for $90, maid for $25 a day, medical system is super cheap and efficient, I love Mexican people and their traditional family values, etc...

But it will most likely be a struggle for you if you have to get a job here. Which is why many Mexicans try to immigrate to USA.

But if you are retired or have an online business you get a LOT of bang for your buck here ! In many places for $2000 a month and you are living VERY comfortably. I suggest you learn Spanish and the world is in fact your oyster. I can guarantee you I am never moving back ! 8)

Peace gentlemen...

Last Edited by Pissed Off Beaver on 04/30/2015 03:24 PM

Bless you! Much admiration for your brave choice.

I am not exactly sure what is was for and why. I was browsing through queries trying to locate a vacant land sale report and came across that query.

I opened it up and every house that had a wood stove and/or fireplace was listed. It could have been a report for EPA, DEQ, etc. I saw no reason why it would have any value other than someone requested it. Woodstove/fireplaces aren't a factor in assessment, other than to pair up heating types on comp sales, but even then the adjustment for heating is minimal at best.

I think the EPA wants to eliminate wood burning stoves or tax the shit out them.

We need the Fair Tax to put an end to all that nonsense.

That is no income or payroll taxes, no property taxes, and no corporate taxes - just a sales tax.

The rich would pay most of the taxes because they spend most money.

Easy accounting.

Even drug money would be taxed when it is spent.

I would add extra tariffs, at least until American industry is rebuilt.

But anything sold in America would be taxed.

Do you know why we don't do these very sensible things?

Lobbies in Washington would scream bloody murder.