Tax people.....peeking inside my house

[Natasha]

I woke up Monday morning a little past 8am (it was a week before school) because I heard a car park on the street next to our house. I peeked outside and saw that some woman came out of the car and my neighbor was walking past her and pointed to my house into several places. I never seen my neighbor walking on this street ever: we have a corner house and she was from the other street side. Anyway, I thought that that was strange and why did she pointed at my house. Woman got back into her car and started working on her laptop. I couldn't sleep anymore so I decided to go downstairs for coffee. When I came down, I almost screamed! That woman from the car was peeking inside from the backyard window :eek: :confused: and we have a very private backyard! I wasn't even dressed so I ran upstairs, dressed, got phone and was about to call 911. The woman was still there peeking and showed me to the door. I came outside and I was upset. She said that she was from county dep of property taxes and she asked if we were done with remodeling. We were doing some remodeling inside and a couple things outside but we haven't finished yet. She asked what have we already done and was very persuasive about hardwood floors. I said that we did not do hardwood floors but we installed laminate. She repeated 2 times: "hardwood floors" and I was like "No, laminate!" I had a feeling she did not believe me so I explained that laminate may look like hardwood but it's not and it's cheap, even cheaper than carpet and we paid for ours 75 cents per sq foot. She said that she'll walk around and then leave and she did.
Now my question is: Can't they call ahead? Do they have a right to peek inside without asking? If it was a man peeking, I would've called cops for sure. My husband wasn't home, just me and kids and I did get really scared! I never heard about anything like this. Now the worst part about it is that we got our tax card today and they raised the value of our house way too much: over $55K! :eek: It is still a 1940 old house with a 65 years of rain and termite damage (a lot of termite damage) but sinse it looks nice outside and inside, doesn't means it's new. Our friends have a 3 years old house and they'll be paying much less taxes than we are! Is there a way to appeal? Have anyone succeded ever? I heard that once they increased it, that's it. Help!

PS Also I am mad about my neighbor. We never caused her any problems even when their dog barks at night and she had no business calling them. I know that they would've come anyway, but she had no business calling them!

PPS An interesting article about turning Americans into "tax slaves" :
http://www.mises.org/freemarket_detail.asp?control=297&sortorder=articledate

[usascs]

Dont feel bad :O( I have a house built in the 1890's. my tax estimate is 98,000. now I have less than 1600 sq ft of living space. like you said the outside may look ok. siding new windows. but the inside is not any where near being finished. We are saving up to tear down and ebuild the back two additions. nothing in house is level. I have plywood floors in two rooms. Taped sheetrock for wall covering in bathroom. It is just grand having a carpentar for a hubby. Bad thing is we have our own construction company and employees. when we are slow can't they come here and work.

[Natasha]

I probably said it wrong: they added to the house value over $55K (57% increase!!!!!) and our total taxed value now is $222K! :eek: Our remodeling costs us about half of what they added including new kitchen appliances. I really think they overdid it big time!

[3lilpigs]

I DO think you can have it appealed. go to your county office and ask to see the papers and what she wrote down to come to that decision. im getting ready to do the same thing. i think they have my house listed as a 3 bedroom with finished basement, and its only 2 br, and the basement is not finished yet.

i have a neighbor that only walks around to my side of the street when i am building or adding something to yard or house. (she lives behind me) i know darn well she is looking for a building permit. i have my front windows tinted, so it cant be seen from the street.....but its there. she is such a pain in my a$$. maybe we have the same neighbor, because im always dealing with her dang mutt barking all the time too!

[iowakat]

Yes, you can appeal but there's a time limit so check into it quickly. I'd also make a complaint against the woman. She has NO more right to be peeking into your windows than anyone else.

[june72]

OMG I would have been mad too.......they have no business peeking into your windows. What happened to privacy?

[Shann]

I don't know about appealing or anything, but I'd be calling the dept she works for and putting a complaint against her. She was tresspassing on private property and I don't see why she couldn't call before...

I'm confused, did your neighbor call them on you?

[tracey74]

I think in most cases b4 they can raise your taxes you have to get it appraised! I might be wrong, But, I dont think they can raise your taxes til your property has be reapparaised from the last amount it was appraised at.say your house is worth 100k just because the tax office thinks after you remodel it should be worth 150k doesnt mean it will be.an appraiser has to look at the land and sq,footage and etc before they can estimate its worth.Id have it appraised and then take the appraisal amount in to the tax office and tell them."this is what the house is worth" if its less than the $200+k price they gave you then I say they will have to adjust it.sounds to me like they are trying to get you to shell out extra money.

[JKATHERINE]

Tracey, I think that the person who came by was the property assessor. If it was, then she can deem the house worth what she chooses depending on upgrades, remodeling, etc. My aunt just had this done to her. She lives alone, way out in the country. Her house is large (especially for only one person) but it has some serious repairs that need to be done. As far as I know (here in Maine anyhow) you do NOT have to let them in your house, but they are supposed to tell you they're coming to assess the property. My aunt DID appeal hers as they raised it almost $100,000 :eek: and she won. Once she pointed out the rotting deck and need of roofwork, they actually LOWERED her assessment to below what it was worth before. First they tried to tell her it was neglect. She then explained to them that no, she wasn't intentionally neglecting her property--she couldn't afford to fix it!

Good luck and keep us updated!

[mimi37]

It's one thing for her to walk around outside to assess the property. But looking in someone's windows is an invasion of privacy. I would definetly call whoever she works for and complain. If I saw someone looking in my windows, I'd be calling the police.

[Natasha]

I just called dep. First lady that I talked to and complainted about someone peeking was like "OMG! Someone peeked inside your house???" Then she transfered me to the dep. who does assesments. I spoke with a man and he was like "Yeah, that happens. We have so many houses to inspect and so little time. We can't call or schedule appointments. I asked why my house value had increased so much and he said that mostly because my neighborhood's value increased, so is my house. This would be a good thing if we were to sell it but I don't think that we want to sell it. We have lots of new houses built on every empty lot of land and now it's so crowded here and so much traffic these days plus now we have to pay more taxes. :( Oh well, whatever. I guess appealing would be useless... :(

[usascs]

But what did he say about her peeping in your windows? I do believe that is against the law in most states. And in a few states it is grounds for a legal shooting.

[iowakat]

Don't just automatically assume you would lose an appeal. If your house is older, it shouldn't be taxed like a newer home. I'd still file a complaint against the peeker also.

[justme23]

It doesn't sound to me like they went over on the value... if you ever watch those buy it and flip it shows you see, they fix 'em up cheap and sell them for a whole lot more than what it cost to do the repairs.

And around here the age of the house doesn't matter... they go by size and condition... I would be pissed at my neighbor though and I'd start calling about her barking mutt every time I heard him bark.

[mis_c25]

I, too, would appeal it.
We just bought a house (in Texas) from my sisters mother-in-law and she was to pay the taxes...well they tried to tell her it was worth lots more than it was and she appealed and won! I think they tried to tell her, her house was worth $58,000 and it was appraised by someone in another county at $21,000.

So, I wouldn't give up just yet...request that appeal!!!