House Valuations

[motokelowna1]

OK people the next set of tax increases coming your way.

With house valuations going up the BC Assessment will make smoke screen you into paying more property tax. They give you the euphoria of my house is worth that much more form what it was before. IT IS A TAX GRAB dont let this fool you. Get onto the BC Assessment site and compare the house values around you.

You must complain and argue the increases trust me it works. Remember your house is only worth what you sell it for, not some pie in the sky valuations. Houses in Vancouver are already falling in sales prices and the GOVT is getting in the tax increase before they must reassess the valuations........

They link it to house's that have sold in your area .

[ferri]

http://www.castanet.net/news/Kelowna/18 ... s-to-spike

[Lady tehMa]

BC Assessment values are based on average homes like yours in your area, but they don't actually go in. They may go past and check them out from the outside, but can't go in without permission or knowledge so they might be completely off.

If you are selling and want a better value or are staying and want a lower value; you can hire an appraiser to come in and appraise your home. I know someone who did that a few years ago and he was happy with his results.

[W105]

if you have pulled a building permit for reno's, BC Assessment will come by and look inside and take pictures..I know because it happened to us and yes, it of course made our assessment go up....

[motokelowna1]

if you have pulled a building permit for reno's, BC Assessment will come by and look inside and take pictures..I know because it happened to us and yes, it of course made our assessment go up....

We also had a reassessment done some years ago and the guy told us they sometimes look through the windows and check out your flooring to distinguish what category you house falls into.. Dont forget the van with the camera taking pictures of the outside of your house.

[w84u2]

How do they do it for condos, apartments and townhouses? Good reason to keep your blinds shut and the front lawn unkempt. Somebody who looks through my windows and I catch them, is going to have criminal charges to worry about.

[Atomoa]

You must complain and argue the increases trust me it works.

Pay your fair share and stop trying to short change society.

[W105]

really ?? motokelowna ?? I did not know they look into your windows..I have seen that van around a few times thru the yrs though..wonder how much they use google earth ???

[Even Steven]

Just because your assessment went up doesn't automatically mean you'll be paying more in taxes. Please educate yourself how assessments work. The only time when higher assessment causes you pay more taxes is when your house went up higher in value than your neighbours. If everyone's houses go up in value by the same percentage than there's no change in taxation rate per house. In fact, if your evaluation went up by the lower percentage than your neighbours than you'll be paying less taxes and they'll pay more.

This doesn't apply if city raises taxes for everybody though, but they operate separate from BC Assessment office and their increase has nothing to do with increasing house values.

But fighting the evaluation and lowering it doesn't cost you anything and it might benefit you, so if complaining for half an hour might save you few hundred bucks - heck, give it a try. Wish we could do it with CRA.

[Jonrox]

The OP obviously doesn't understand how property taxes work. It's a bit surprising so many homeowners don't understand one of the biggest yearly expenses they have.

Thanks to Steven for an explanation that should help those who are misinformed.

[youjustcomplain]

I pulled a permit 5 years ago, took 8 months to do what I was doing, and had it inspected by the district on their schedule. nobody from BC assessments came at any time. Maybe they come as a new policy since 2011/2012 when I had my permit?

The assessment isn't real estate value. I don't know if it's meant to be, but they've been off by $100,000 on my place ever since I built it. They think it's worth less than what I can sell it for.

[Glacier]

How do they do it for condos, apartments and townhouses? Good reason to keep your blinds shut and the front lawn unkempt. Somebody who looks through my windows and I catch them, is going to have criminal charges to worry about.

I know a guy that appealed his assessment. He has a really nicely landscaped property, but when the assessor came by, it was all covered in snow, so he stated that it was a just rocks and dirt. His assessment went down as he had hoped.

[spooker]

The last 3 years I've seen my assessment go up by 13 - 20% when they send me the letter ... but looking at comparables in my area I don't see my neighbours with the same valuations so I appeal it ... still ended up with an increase but not as unreasonable

Last year for my mortgage refinancing the new lender wanted a current assessment and sent someone in ... they came out a few thousand higher than the BC Assessment value so I feel that the appeal results have been worthwhile ...

This year they are saying that the average increase will be about 11.4% ... considering how the valley is getting hotter as Vancouver cools off I could understand that reasoning ... will still evaluate the increase and push back if it's warranted

[motokelowna1]

The last 3 years I've seen my assessment go up by 13 - 20% when they send me the letter ... but looking at comparables in my area I don't see my neighbours with the same valuations so I appeal it ... still ended up with an increase but not as unreasonable

Last year for my mortgage refinancing the new lender wanted a current assessment and sent someone in ... they came out a few thousand higher than the BC Assessment value so I feel that the appeal results have been worthwhile ...

This year they are saying that the average increase will be about 11.4% ... considering how the valley is getting hotter as Vancouver cools off I could understand that reasoning ... will still evaluate the increase and push back if it's warranted

Same here spooker they adjusted ours by 11% the most in the street yet they dropped the price on others but they were 2 million dollar houses and they dropped them by 200K. In the same breath they advertise that market valuations had gone up by average 7% for BC . Give me a break we won the adjusted value and only increased by $1000.00 win win for us. Do not be duped is all i can say.

[motokelowna1]

Just because your assessment went up doesn't automatically mean you'll be paying more in taxes. Please educate yourself how assessments work. The only time when higher assessment causes you pay more taxes is when your house went up higher in value than your neighbours. If everyone's houses go up in value by the same percentage than there's no change in taxation rate per house. In fact, if your evaluation went up by the lower percentage than your neighbours than you'll be paying less taxes and they'll pay more.

This doesn't apply if city raises taxes for everybody though, but they operate separate from BC Assessment office and their increase has nothing to do with increasing house values.

But fighting the evaluation and lowering it doesn't cost you anything and it might benefit you, so if complaining for half an hour might save you few hundred bucks - heck, give it a try. Wish we could do it with CRA.

Assessed Value set by BC assessment Multiply by Tax Rate set by local Govt or tax authority = Taxes payable (its in writing) just saying....