Comments on: Free Help Appealing Your St. Joseph County, Indiana Property Tax Assessment

By: Nick Molnar

Nick Molnar — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:48:05 +0000

You still have to pay.

Because Indiana property taxes are billed in arrears it’s common for the seller to credit the buyer the estimated amount of accrued-but-not-yet-billed taxes at closing. Depending how you bought the home, and on the terms of your contract, you may have received a credit at closing which lowered the amount of money you needed to close on the purchase, but which you have to pay now.

If that sounds confusing it’s really even worse when you consider that exemptions often change when a property changes hands, and assessments and tax rates can also change each year. New construction adds its own set of issues I won’t delve into here.

The only way to be sure taxes that accrued before you buy a property are paid by the seller is to have the seller escrow an amount more than sufficient to pay the anticipated bill, wait until the county mails the bills, pay the bill from the escrow account, and return any overage to the seller. Title companies will do this for about $100. But it is often impractical or impossible for a seller to tie up funds for a year or more and many sellers won’t do so. Because of this, taxes are usually estimated based on the last bill, prorated to the day of closing, and credited to the buyer. But it doesn’t always happen, and the estimates are not always correct.

An appeal is free except for your time. $7,000 in value at 3% (that may not be the rate you pay but it’s probably close enough for this line of reasoning) would be $210. Is a few hours work worth a chance of retaining a few hundred dollars?

By: Cindy

Cindy — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:09:35 +0000

I bought my house in March 2009, and I was sent a copy of the bill for 2009 pay 2008. Since I didn’t own the house in 2008, do I have to pay the 2008 taxes??

Also, my assessed value is $136k, the appraised value was $129k. Is it worth appealing?

By: Susan Chipman

Susan Chipman — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:06:49 +0000

great stuff! I’ve been getting calls also looking for comps…I’m going to forward your post to them as well. My tax bill jumped also, but the assessed value looks right…crazy stuff!

By: Nick Molnar

Nick Molnar — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:32:16 +0000

Not filing exemptions to which you are entitled can turn out to be a costly oversight.
I don’t know why the same house on the same street would vary in assessed value – if you want tax or sales records for the neighborhing homes to include with your appeal, fill out the form above and I’ll try to get them to you quickly.

By: Michael Webb

Michael Webb — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:47:26 +0000

My wife and I failed to file for mortgage and homestead exemptions last year after moving to Indiana and purchasing our home on February 4, 2008. I received the full year tax bill last week in the amount of $4,110.93 and choked! Yesterday, I visited the tax office in downtown South Bend and filed for both exemptions. Before doing this, I checked with a couple of my neighbors who also have Windsor Model homes on my Street. These models, built by Weiss Homes, are identical. One of my neighbors has a full finished basement. My basement isn’t finished; however both neighbor properties are assessed less value than my property. There is disparity ranging from -$6,000 to -$10,000. So, I’m filing out form 130 right now; but, I don’t have any comp values for other homes that have sold or are currently selling like mine.