Has Your Property Been Over-Valued by the Eagle County Assessors Office?

How would you like to lower your property taxes? Imagine! Saving $1,000's of dollars in property taxes during the next two years. How? By taking the time to protest your new valuation by the Eagle County Assessor's office.

Did you fail to appeal your property tax valuation in 2009?  It’s okay if you did, as Colorado law gives you a second chance.  But, you must act quickly, as appeals of the 2010 valuation must be filed by June 1, 2010. 

Here’s the quick summary of the process!  New values that applied to the 2009 and 2010 property taxes were assigned to each property on May 1, 2009.  You had until June 1, 2009 to file an appeal, and if a reduction was granted, it applied to both the 2009 & 2010 taxes.  If you did not appeal in 2009, you can still appeal your 2010 valuation, but an appeal must be filed by June 1, 2010.  If a reduction in value is achieved via appeal, you can petition for an Abatement of the 2009 taxes.  An Abatement is a refund of the prior year taxes due to over-valuation by the Assessor.

The Good News! This is an event you have the control to influence the outcome. You have the power to protest your county valuation and Reduce Your Taxes! But, you must act quickly!

Find out how to analyze your property tax valuation easily, cost effectively, and professionally! You owe it yourself to take the time and effort to determine if your property is being valued fairly by the County Assessor. After all, there is a Lot of Money at stake!

The National Taxpayers Union documents that as many as 60% of all properties in America are over valued. Yet, less than 1% appeal their taxes. Most people don't appeal their house tax assessment because they do not know how. The process of reducing your property taxes can be frustrating and confusing.

Affordable, Professional, and Competent Tax Protest Assistance is Now Available!

Roger Pack with Pack Appraisal Company has been handling property tax protests on residential properties for many years.  To more clearly define our mission, Eagle County Tax Appeal was created for these services.  We have developed database driven programs that use refined valuation models to provide highly competent appeal reports that lead to successful appeals for our clients.  Our services are designed to allow you to make informed decisions about the feasibility of pursuing an appeal. Then, if you would like to pursue an appeal, we can handle the entire appeal from generating appeal reports to attending hearings and working with the Assessors office to obtain an equitable value on your property.

Feasibility Tax Report: Our experienced staff will prepare a restricted appraisal with a market analysis as a basis for determining the reasonableness of the "Current Year Actual Value" assigned by the Eagle County Assessors office. We offer this service at a fixed fee as low as $95, allowing you to affordably determine if your property is over-valued and if it may be feasible to pursue an appeal. More Info . . .

Tax Protest Report: After you have received the Feasibility Tax Report, if you believe your property is overvalued and further appeal is feasible, you may pursue the protest process with a Tax Protest Report. We will prepare a Tax Protest Report utilizing the most accurate methodologies available. This report will be submitted to the Eagle County Assessor's office by June 1, 2010. Many times a successful reduction in value is achieved at this first stage of the appeals process.

Two payment options are available to continue the appeals process with a Tax Protest Report, a fixed fee, or a contingent fee. The Contingent Fee option allows you to pursue the appeals process without the payment of up-front fees. We only get paid if we are successful in achieving a reduction in value for your property. We will represent you through the remainder of the tax protest process. No additional payment of fixed fees will be required. More Info . . .

How Much Can You Save?

Keep in mind that the 2009 Assessed Valuations are utilized in the calculation of your 2009 and 2010 Property Tax obligations. Any reduction in value achieved now will apply to your property taxes for two years. Therefore, the calculation of total tax savings should be considered over a two year period.

How Much is at Stake?

Our clients from the 2007 and 2009 Tax Valuations achieved an average tax savings of more than $3,800, and our 2005 clients enjoyed an average tax savings of over $4,300.

You can see that taking the time and expense to investigate and appeal the valuations assigned by the Eagle County Assessor can be quite profitable. As they say, a penny saved is a penny earned. Take the time to determine if your property is reasonably valued.

Property taxes typically represent the largest non-mortgage expense associated with property ownership. Yet, most people don't appeal their tax assessment because they don't know how. They have no idea how to determine if they are being overcharged, so taxes remain unchallenged. Our goal is to demystify the process, make it easy to understand, and put you in control of your property taxes.

Our Experience

Roger Pack and Eagle County Tax Appeal have been helping homeowners in their Eagle County tax appeals for more than 12 years. We understand how the system works. We have experience handling a wide variety of appeals, saving our clients thousands of dollars. You can feel confident that we will provide your Tax Protest Services promptly, professionally, and cost effectively.

Most important, we are appraisal experts in Eagle County. Our office performs hundreds of appraisals a year in Eagle County. We are well known for providing high quality appraisal services that accurately reflect the behavior of the marketplace. We utilize this knowledge and expertise in the preparation of Tax Appeal Reports and attendance at appeal hearings.

Why Would Your Property be Overvalued by the County Assessor?

The Eagle County Assessors office has a very difficult task. They must assign values to more than 40,000 properties. And, the diverse array of properties in the county increases the complexity of this task. The time constraints involved in valuing such a large number of unique properties necessitates the use of mass appraisal techniques.

Mass appraisal methodology involves the use of regression analysis. This methodology often does not properly account for meaningful differences in value, such as site characteristics, views, locations, renovation of properties, construction quality, and unique appeal characteristics. Problems are compounded when the sales data from a neighborhood is diverse, which is very common in our mountain resort marketplace.

This is the reason why mortgage lenders and banks do not accept the county assessed valuation when making real estate loans and mortgages. Valuations for property tax purposes just do not provide the level of accuracy required to secure their interests of lending situations.

Why Does the Use of Mass Appraisal Methodology Result in Errors?

The reliability of Mass Appraisal methodology is directly dependent on the:

1. Accuracy of Subject & Comparable Sales Data: Unfortunately, there are many reasons for errors in the County data.
   • Errors are made in characterizing properties.
     
   • Properties change, and the county staff is unaware of the changes.
     
   • Sellers do not fill out the Transfer Declaration forms correctly, resulting in inappropriate Effective Sales Prices of comparable sales.
     

     Through research, these errors may be rectified, resulting in successful tax protests that save taxpayers significant sums of money. The appraisal staff of Eagle County Tax Appeal is prepared to perform research to detect these errors.

2. Similarity of Comparable Sales Data: It is important to remember that the greater the number of differences between a property and a comparable sale, the greater the chance of making an error in quantifying the market adjustment for that difference. Therefore, if the sales data utilized to value your property differs substantially, there is a stronger likelihood of an unjust valuation being assigned to your property.

What To Do Now!

We understand that this can all be a bit confusing. If you have any doubts about the accuracy of the value assigned to your property by the County Assessor, order a Feasibility Tax Report now! You will be provided information needed to help determine the reasonableness of your property value and the feasibility of an appeal.

After you receive the results of the Feasibility Tax Report, if you believe your property is overvalued, begin the appeal process with our Tax Protest Report services. We will prepare a formal valuation utilizing the most accurate methodologies available. If we find support for a value reduction, the report will be submitted to the Eagle County Assessor's office.