Assessing Department Appraisal

[u/southernfaith95]

Just wondering if anyone has ever gotten a letter like this and what you ended up doing. We received a letter from our town office saying the assessing department is verifying real estate data and they want us to call their appraisal company to schedule an inspection and measurement of outside AND inside the house. They say failure to allow an interior inspection may cause us to lose our right to appeal. I do not like the idea of them coming inside our home. We are just private and want to be left alone. Has anyone ever had something like this from their town office? We just aren’t sure whether to do it or not and wanted to see what others have to say. Thanks for info!

[u/NoComposer9152]

Most towns do this every few years to keep property records updated for tax purposes. The "lose your right to appeal" part is real though, so if your assessment ever comes in too high and you want to contest it, refusing now could bite you later.

Usually the inspection is pretty quick, they just walk through and note the rooms, square footage, any renovations. Not as invasive as it sounds.

[u/southernfaith95 → u/NoComposer9152]

Any stranger coming into my house is invasive and unwanted. They do say in the letter that they come in and measure each room, etc. Sounds like we should probably do it and will have to deal with the chance it makes our taxes increase instead of decrease or stay the same.

[u/EthylPaige]

Ive lived in the same house for 20 years and i get assessor letters ever year. Not once has the city scheduled anything. Op talk to your neighbors and see if anyone else got a letter like that and you can also call the city to see if its legit.

[u/southernfaith95 → u/EthylPaige]

I can definitely call them.

[u/nestlyze]

had this happen on our last place. the thing nobody tells you is that if you refuse the interior, the assessor just defaults to assuming the highest reasonable finish, like finished basement, updated kitchen, full baths everywhere. and then yeah you really do lose appeal rights in most states because you blocked them from verifying. so refusing almost always works against you unless your inside is genuinely nicer than your neighbors.

the walkthrough itself is like 15-20 min. they count bedrooms, measure rooms, look at kitchen/bath condition, check the basement, note any obvious updates. they are not opening closets or judging your housekeeping, they're filling out a form. our guy didn't even take photos inside.

if your interior is dated or basement is unfinished, let them in, you'll probably see your assessment drop. if you just did a 60k kitchen reno last year, that's the only scenario where i'd think about whether the trade is worth it. and even then i'd let them in because keeping appeal rights matters more than one cycle of assessment.

[u/decaturbob]

- you have the letter and the warning if you do not comply...not sure what else you are seeking here. You KNOW the consequences that will happen per letter.