Hello All-

   I have had many people ask me about how to go about petitioning the Washoe county assessors office regarding property tax amounts.  I have attached their form that shows their process for review.   Many of you who own property in Washoe county have just received within the last few weeks your assessment notice.  If you feel your assessed value and taxable values are too high you have until January 15th, 2010 to petition.  In my case our valuation dropped by  22%.  There are a couple of key issues I hope are helpful to all of you. 

1. 1)Your assessed value and your ultimate tax bill may not align completely due the legislation that caps property tax increases to 3% or 8% depending on if it is your primary residence or not.  I recommend calling the assessor’s office and/or the treasurer’s office to determine your areas specific tax rate so you can compute if you are receiving an abatement or not. 775-328-2233(assessor)
   

2. 2)The Assessor’s office calculates the valuation and the Treasures office calculates tax bills.  The treasure’s office can be reached at 775-328-2510 or you can visit their website at www.washoecounty.us/treas/
   

3. 3) The Tax assessment notice focuses on land value and building value to determine taxable value.  The simplest way for us to evaluate is to get most recent comps in your area and see if there is a noticeable difference.
   

Overall our Real Estate market continues to lose value.  The bottom of the market is not seeing many declines at this point.  Bank owned well priced homes in good condition are selling very quickly.  The home buyer tax credit has been extended and expanded to include people who are first time buyers as well as those who have owned a house for the last 5 five years. (http://www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com/ )  It still remains a fantastic time to buy.  I sincerely appreciate and thank you all for the referrals you all have sent me over the years. 

I hope this information is helpful and wish you all a happy holidays!!!

Sincerely,

Heather Sallan