Land Values Continue to Fall

Japan vs USA

If you are a land owner, particularly a developer and the holder of inventory please do not be mad at the chart we have provided to the right. We are in no way predicting a “Japan style” real estate meltdown. Our only intention is to draw your attention to the urgent need you and every other vacant land owner regardless of the county, for property tax valuation reduction.

No one disputes the vacant land, particularly residential  and commercial development acreage has dropped substantially in value. The problem exists in trying to deal with the office of the assessor concerning the correct valuation. Let me give you a brief example:

In 2005 a client bought multiple parcels of residential development land along with some commercial for a total price of $24 million in anticipation of the continuation of the residential development market. The parcels range in size from 10 acres to 640 acres.  In 2008 he not only could not sell these properties for a reasonable amount, there were very few other sales other than foreclosures or deed in lieu of foreclosure properties.

In attempting to talk to the assessor’s office concerning these properties our position was simple.  First, there were no comparables within the county so our search necessarily needed to go outside of the county where the property was located. The subject assessor’s office said no. Second, it was necessary to use the sum of the property as a unit of valuation and not the individual pieces. The subject assessor’s office said no again.

The valuation from the subject assessor’s office was to find small pieces of similar properties within the county and then figure dollars per acre and multiply that times the acreage of the subject. We fought this case and eventually obtained for our client a reduction to $16 million.  Savings to this client in the 2008 year alone was over $90,000. We will continue to seek additional reductions on our client’s behalf as the market continues.  When the values begin to a appreciate we will monitor for our client the assessor increases each year, filing appropriate appeals where necessary.

As you can see in this economy the fight to reduce property taxes must be on a level seldom achieved by our competitors. We have learned to think outside the box employing every available strategy allowed by law to reduce your property taxes. If you are looking for an aggressive leading edge company you have found it. Our fee and our contract?  Click here to see them. Otherwise call us now, as the appeals deadline is rapidly approaching, at (909) 867-5000 or fill out the contact form here.