If you own property in the United States, you are obligated to pay property taxes. The amount of money you pay will vary based on a few different factors. The factor everyone is aware of is the property tax rate for the area in which you live. This can be obtained by paying a visit to your local tax office or town clerk. There are a couple of other factors that have a significant impact on how much property tax we pay, the assessment of your home and your right to contest. In Cobb County, you can find real estate tax services that can help you navigate your different options when it comes to how you pay your tax, and most important, how much you pay.
Understanding Property Taxes
In Cobb County, there is a wide variety of properties, and the owners all have to pay property taxes. It is the same for residential properties as it it for commercial properties. And even if there is no home or building on a plot of land, property taxes must still be paid. An intricate understanding of the details of property taxes can be obtained by speaking to a real estate tax consultant, but we will review some of the basics right here.
Property taxes are used to help fund various initiatives the local government has decided are important. A great many of these affect our daily lives, such as the development of roads, sidewalks, and trash cleanup. There are some others that we do not see, but these are equally important to the smooth operation of a town or city. These include things such as the payroll for town and city employees, who range from those who work in town or city hall to the people responsible for cleanup after a natural disaster. Clearly, the property taxes we pay go to good use. However, there is nothing wrong with making sure you do not pay more tax than you are supposed to.
How Property Taxes Are Calculated
In Cobb County, each city or town has a property tax rate, and this is used in conjunction with the value of your property to ascertain how much property tax you have to pay. Real estate tax consultants have intimate knowledge of how the tax code works, and many people choose to use them as a resource. However, a basic understanding of how they are calculated relatively is easy to build. Your property tax rate is decided on by the local authorities each year. Once that is set in stone it becomes a constant in the property tax equation. The variable is the assessed value of your home. A property assessor will decide the value of your property. This will include factors such as the square footage of the home, the number of bedrooms, the number of bathrooms, and even the size of the lot the home sits on.
Another major factor is the area in which you live, as well as nearby conveniences. When a property tax assessor arrives at a value for your home, he or she is most likely trying to give your home or business a fair assessment. However, if the number ends up being too high, it does not hurt him or his interests. The objective is to get a number that will help the town or city get tax money from you, not give you the best possible tax rate. This is where a real estate tax consultant really comes in handy. The consultant will have a rough understanding of both how the assessor arrived at the figure he did, and how to make the amount you actually pay lower. This is accomplished by doing research and obtaining evidence that proves that you should be paying less.
There are some things that even a very well-meaning assessor will not be able to see, and many of these things will have a direct effect on the value of your home. For instance, if your home has plumbing issues that need to be remedied, this will make the value of your home lower. It would be difficult for a tax assessor to know something like this.
Also, if a section of your roof needs to be either fixed or replaced, this is something that could be used to argue that the assessed value of your home should be lower. In addition, there could be things nearby your home that reasonably decrease its value. For example, if there is a long-term construction project taking place near your home, the value of your home, at least over the next year or so, could be negatively affected. This is because people associate a construction project with noise, debris, and traffic issues. Therefore, they are far less likely to purchase a home that is close to a major construction area. A real estate tax consultant in Cobb County will be able to help you find a number of things that can be used to decrease the assessed value of your home.
Will a Real Estate Tax Consultant Drop the Value of My Property?
There is no intrinsic connection between the assessed value of your home for tax purposes and how much your home will sell for on the open market. When a realtor prepares your property for sale, even though he or she will use similar data to arrive at a value, the amount the property sells for will be inherently different from the amount it is assessed at for tax purposes. Therefore, you don’t have to worry about the true value of your home: you can just let the real estate tax consultant do his or her work.
Even though paying taxes is a constant, the amount you pay does not have to be, especially when it comes to property taxes. Whether you own a private residence, a business property, or another type of commercial property, a real estate tax consultant can help you pay the amount of taxes you should, and not a penny more.
