I have represented hundreds of taxpayers over my thirty year career and have had to clean up some messes caused by prior counsel. I thought it might be useful to unveil my shortlist of ten recondite dangers in the assessment appeals process.
1. Assessment appeals require specialized counsel and experts. An inexperienced professional, unschooled in the nuances of the process, can kill a good case. Many assessment appeals are litigated in trial courts where the rules, written and unwritten, differ from administrative appeals and common trials.
2. The heyday of Valley Forge may be over. If you don’t know what I am talking about, then you are behind the curve. Using Valley Forge as your sole defense to a taxing authority appeal may be a losing argument.
3. Commercial properties valued by the income approach may require multiple strategies. The is more than one method of calculating a cap rate or a tax load factor. Remember, an appraisal is more of an art than a science. There are no “slam dunks,” so have more than one strategy mapped out.
4. If you appeal an assessment without strong factual or legal support, you take the risk that a board of assessment may elect to deny your requested reduction and instead increase the assessment. Yes, I have seen it happen.
5. One size does not fit all. A residential property of 50 acres with a mansion is not the same as a home on a half-acre. A mixed-use office and retail building, land subdivided into lots and thereafter improved, shopping centers with big-box users and stand-along net lease properties, all demand specialized arguments and strategies.
6. A lawyer who talks too much will detract from an appraiser’s presentation. A board of assessment hearing is often a quick affair, and there is little time for puffery. Get to the point. Not allowing a valuation expert sufficient time to make a presentation to a board can be deadly.