White swans wintering in our area
Last week I received my 2010 Property Assessment Notice from the BC Assessment and read with interest that my property value had dropped by 3.5 percent since it was last assessed as of July 1, 2007.
You might think that I would be pleased that I might expect a lower tax burden. Not so, tax payer, regardless of whether your assessment values are up or down your tax bill is determined primarily by the mill rate that your "tax authority" the city (Chilliwack) or municipality (District of Kent, Village of Harrison Hot Springs) applies to the assessment figures. I expect the mill rate to go up so no silver lining is expected to be found here.
You might think that I was disappointed hoping that my property value the "golden egg' was greater than it had previously been. Well maybe a little but so long as all the residential values rise and fall at the same rate I am okay with that. The question is did they? My review of Chilliwack Real Estate Multiple Listing average prices for single family houses in the May to July period of 2007 (the last time the assessment roll was prepared) indicate a selling average of $339,000 compared to $343,000 for the same May to July period in 2009. Prices up, but, only marginally. How to explain the drop in my assessments? Two years of depreciation on my house is probably the reason for the decline and that seems reasonable. Seeing as I am fundamentally opposed to spending more on taxes than is my share overall so far so good.
What is important is ensuring that the Assessment Authority has up to date information on your property.
Several years ago I listed a farm for sale and discovered that the empty house assessed at $100,000 or more was totally uninhabitable. To make matters worse the elderly lady owner was "land rich" but "cash poor" so paying more taxes than was needed posed an economic hardship. The house had open holes in the roof and several floors were rotten. For the safety of my client and prospective buyers no access to the house was allowed. Fortunately, the assessment people were very understanding and within a week had made the necessary adjustments to prevent a nasty tax bill. The house has since been removed but sadly this lady can never recover the excess taxes she paid through the years.
Does the assessment authority have the right information on your property? The way to check that is to go to http://www.bcassessment.ca/ and click on the "e-valueBC-compare assessments online" tab found on the right hand side of the home page. You can access your residence information by entering a PIN number that can be found at the top of the BCAssessment property form thay sent to you through the mail. I checked mine and apparently I have 5 bedrooms and not 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms and not 3, plus the square footage of the main floor of the house is 124 square feet larger than it should be. I decided to call the Assessment Authority. An automatic answering system came up, pressing "0" and I was quickly assigned to an appraiser. I did receive a response the same day but unfortunately I was out in Chilliwack showing properties to clients.
How do your assessments compare to my neighbours?
I have great respect and confidence in the BC Assessment Authority based in part on my own analysis done in October 2009. Amazingly the assessment values and the multiple listing sale figures for that month were within 1% of each other. Does this mean that errors do not get made? No.
If you are concerned that your property assessment value is wrong check out what neighbouring properties have been selling for. This can be done until March 15th, 2010 through the BC Assessment then this information will be withdrawn. I had a look at the online information provided and was a little disappointed that there were not more house style classes - a 1 storey house could be a rancher over a crawl space, a rancher over a full basement, and a ground level entry full basement house with a main floor above for example. This lack of information makes it hard to compare apples with apples or swans with swans (okay I am shamelessly trying to tie that picture at the top of the post in). The best idea - take a drive and snap off a few pictures of these properties of your own. This will give you a better idea as to how well your property is valued in comparision to others and whether you should appeal.
The What To Do
Whether you are unhappy with the information surrounding your property or the value as based on sales results in the neighbourhood the first call to make is to the BC Assessment Authority; these numbers can be found on your property assessment notice. If you can not come to an agreement you need to ask yourself "Is this worth all the time and trouble I would have to go through in an appeal". If yes, it will be time to talk to a professional or collect enough information of comparable properties to make your own case. Here is a warning - be well prepared the professionals at the BC Assessment Authority will be.
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Stephen Mullock is a Chilliwack real estate associate broker with 29 years of experience. He can be reached at Royal LePage Wheeler Cheam Realty, telephone 604-792-0077.
Copyright January 12, 2010 by Stephen Mullock.
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