What is your best guess on why the county property appraiser...

[4kids4karen]

rang my doorbell to inquire if my neighbors still live there?

Yes, I could have asked him why he wanted to know. Instead my gut response was "even if you are from the county, I am not going to talk about my neighbors." So he said okay, he would contact them directly. But he took pictures of their house before he left. If he would have looked on Zillow, he would have seen the for sale listing as well.

There is a for sale sign in the window with their phone number. And just between everyone on DISboards, they moved four days ago. Literally, just pulled out to move to a different state four days ago. Owner works for his insurance company so not anything insurance related.

We have been neighbors for 15 years and all of us around are watching their home until it sells and have a key to their home. I just didn't feel like sharing with someone I didn't know. One neighbor is cleaning/dusting the home, another taking care of the grass, etc.

Perhaps he wants to buy it? LOL.

I have already texted the neighbor a picture of his business card so she can be aware if he calls her.

Homes on the market with a real estate agent usually go like hotcakes but they are doing a for sale by owner. They bought land in another state so when this home sells, they will start building their new home. They will be living in their RV on their sister's property until the home sells. It is not a foreclosure.

ETA: This is Florida so perhaps he thinks they are claiming a homestead exemption while not living here. You can only do a homestead exemption on your primary residence.

 

[crazycatstacy]

Last year it was time for our city to reappraise properties so they went door to door asking to take pics and to see inside so they could see if you did updates, etc. Maybe that was it?

 

[ceecee]

If you have a card, call the company he's with and ask them. Or just call the auditor's office and ask.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Guessing, but he knocked on your door because he needs to talk to the homeowner, ideally in person.

County appraiser wouldn't check, or trust, Zillow et al, because the asking price is entirely separate from the appraiser - tax - value.

 

[tvguy]

OP. I guess it isn't a big deal, but if a county official on county business asked me that question, I would be inclined to answer. I did have an investigator from the Franchise Tax Board come by and ask questions about whether a specific person lived next door. Technically, I think those investigators are considered law enforcement. I had never heard of the person they asked about, and he left a card and said if I say that person, the give them the card. I gave it to my neighbor, it was apparently one of her old boyfriends. A boyfriend who ran a business and closed it down owing about $100,000 in back taxes.

I had forgotten about tax appraisals. Prop 13 passed here in California in 1978. It sets your property taxes at 1% of what you paid for the house. That tax can go up no more than 2% per year. So we haven't had tax appraisals here in 40 years. A neighbor of my parents was a tax appraiser. A buddy of his stopped by one day when he was on vacation, they offered him lunch. After lunch, they found out he was there to appraise their house! But this was before Prop 13 became law.

 

[barkley]

OP. I guess it isn't a big deal, but if a county official on county business asked me that question, I would be inclined to answer. I did have an investigator from the Franchise Tax Board come by and ask questions about whether a specific person lived next door. Technically, I think those investigators are considered law enforcement. I had never heard of the person they asked about, and he left a card and said if I say that person, the give them the card. I gave it to my neighbor, it was apparently one of her old boyfriends. A boyfriend who ran a business and closed it down owing about $100,000 in back taxes.

I had forgotten about tax appraisals. Prop 13 passed here in California in 1978. It sets your property taxes at 1% of what you paid for the house. That tax can go up no more than 2% per year. So we haven't had tax appraisals here in 40 years. A neighbor of my parents was a tax appraiser. A buddy of his stopped by one day when he was on vacation, they offered him lunch. After lunch, they found out he was there to appraise their house! But this was before Prop 13 became law.

in most states county assessors and the like are akin to vampires-they can't enter your home unless you invite them in (saying 'yes' when they ask 'may in come in' suffices). the assessors check RMLS for properties that say "updated" - "renovated" - "remodeled" then try to match that up with permits that were pulled on the property-they are fishing for exceptions that would allow them to increase taxable value. the downside to letting one in w/states that do traditional property taxes is that then they can go with their best guess of the increased value and the homeowner has to go through the appeal process for a corrected valuation.

where we live one of our neighbors got a MASSIVE increase in the appraised value a couple of years after completing construction of his home. he called the county to inquire why and was told it was due to having finished his basement. thing was-he hadn't. assessor told him that the county's position was to increase after 2 years b/c on average that was when most homeowners did so they would just arbitrarily increase every 2 year old home w/a basement sight unseen

when we lived in california the county we lived in there was a big kerfuffle regarding unpermitted construction resulting in unpaid fees to the county. one of the local supervisors got ticked off when it was explained to him that county staff could'nt force a homeowner to let them check a backyard for the scores of unpermitted in ground pools and mil studio apartments ('casanitas') so he took it upon himself to enlist a buddy who would help him take aeriel photos of neighborhoods. i don't know what ultimately happened but there was talk of a recall election for invasion of privacy.


i personally wouldn't get involved w/the county and one of my neighbors.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

rang my doorbell to inquire if my neighbors still live there?

Yes, I could have asked him why he wanted to know. Instead my gut response was "even if you are from the county, I am not going to talk about my neighbors." So he said okay, he would contact them directly. But he took pictures of their house before he left. If he would have looked on Zillow, he would have seen the for sale listing as well.

There is a for sale sign in the window with their phone number. And just between everyone on DISboards, they moved four days ago. Literally, just pulled out to move to a different state four days ago. Owner works for his insurance company so not anything insurance related.

We have been neighbors for 15 years and all of us around are watching their home until it sells and have a key to their home. I just didn't feel like sharing with someone I didn't know. One neighbor is cleaning/dusting the home, another taking care of the grass, etc.

Perhaps he wants to buy it? LOL.

I have already texted the neighbor a picture of his business card so she can be aware if he calls her.

Homes on the market with a real estate agent usually go like hotcakes but they are doing a for sale by owner. They bought land in another state so when this home sells, they will start building their new home. They will be living in their RV on their sister's property until the home sells. It is not a foreclosure.

ETA: This is Florida so perhaps he thinks they are claiming a homestead exemption while not living here. You can only do a homestead exemption on your primary residence.

Could be the homestead exemption issue (we have that in SC too and we've had issues but completely different and wacky!) When my MIL comes to stay with us, she lives just across the state line about 10 miles from us in NC and when my girls were babies she would stay with us, her car with NC plates parked in our driveway. The property appraiser rang our bell and told her on several different occasions that she needed to get her car registered in SC. LOL!! Dumb dumbs.

Anyway, could be an issue with permitting? Perhaps they did something (or prior owner) did something without getting a permit and somethings come to light in a pending sale. Either way, if I were the homeowner and you sent me that, I would likely not call them back. Don't think a county appraiser is good news.

 

[Alesia]

I personally wouldn't get involved w/the county and one of my neighbors.

Agreed. I wouldn't give anyone information about my neighbors.

I would have asked him why he wanted that information.

 

[jaybirdsmommy]

We got a visit from the county appraiser after listing our house for sale. Apparently the bumpout addition that was added by the previous owner 25 years prior wasn't on the county records. Something caught their attention (not exactly sure how, I wasn't home but my husband was) when the house was listed at a larger square footage than what they had on file.

 

[amcnj]

We got a visit from the county appraiser after listing our house for sale. Apparently the bumpout addition that was added by the previous owner 25 years prior wasn't on the county records. Something caught their attention (not exactly sure how, I wasn't home but my husband was) when the house was listed at a larger square footage than what they had on file.

Sometimes it can be just a random drive-by or they were in the area for another purpose and noticed a structure/change that they then found was not on the records. I think they may routinely drive through newer neighborhoods after so many months/years to see if any changes are apparent. I remember a neighbor had installed a huge two level deck and pool that apparently required permits they had never applied for, and so the town was unaware of them, but subsequently discovered during one of those discovery trips.

 

[jaybirdsmommy]

Sometimes it can be just a random drive-by or they were in the area for another purpose and noticed a structure/change that they then found was not on the records. I think they may routinely drive through newer neighborhoods after so many months/years to see if any changes are apparent. I remember a neighbor had installed a huge two level deck and pool that apparently required permits they had never applied for, and so the town was unaware of them, but subsequently discovered during one of those discovery trips.

In our case, they wouldn't have been able to see the addition from the street. When DH asked, the inspector told him it was because of the difference in square footage between the listing and the house plans they had on file. I'm not sure how they caught it, if they routinely cross check those things or possibly our pain in the rear backyard neighbor reported it trying to cause trouble.

 

[barkley]

Sometimes it can be just a random drive-by or they were in the area for another purpose and noticed a structure/change that they then found was not on the records. I think they may routinely drive through newer neighborhoods after so many months/years to see if any changes are apparent. I remember a neighbor had installed a huge two level deck and pool that apparently required permits they had never applied for, and so the town was unaware of them, but subsequently discovered during one of those discovery trips.

i think our local assessor takes advantage of other neighbors giving them permission to be on their property. we live in a neighborhood that's only accessable via a private road so the assessor can't just randomly drive by. it seems as though any time a new home is built and the assessor comes out as part of the process for completion they take advantage of being 'invited' onto the private road to update all their from the road exterior photos of the other homes and see what they can call into question.

 

[amcnj]

i think our local assessor takes advantage of other neighbors giving them permission to be on their property. we live in a neighborhood that's only accessable via a private road so the assessor can't just randomly drive by. it seems as though any time a new home is built and the assessor comes out as part of the process for completion they take advantage of being 'invited' onto the private road to update all their from the road exterior photos of the other homes and see what they can call into question.

I wonder if they can use drones now!

 

[tvguy]

in most states county assessors and the like are akin to vampires-they can't enter your home unless you invite them in (saying 'yes' when they ask 'may in come in' suffices). the assessors check RMLS for properties that say "updated" - "renovated" - "remodeled" then try to match that up with permits that were pulled on the property-they are fishing for exceptions that would allow them to increase taxable value. the downside to letting one in w/states that do traditional property taxes is that then they can go with their best guess of the increased value and the homeowner has to go through the appeal process for a corrected valuation.

where we live one of our neighbors got a MASSIVE increase in the appraised value a couple of years after completing construction of his home. he called the county to inquire why and was told it was due to having finished his basement. thing was-he hadn't. assessor told him that the county's position was to increase after 2 years b/c on average that was when most homeowners did so they would just arbitrarily increase every 2 year old home w/a basement sight unseen

when we lived in california the county we lived in there was a big kerfuffle regarding unpermitted construction resulting in unpaid fees to the county. one of the local supervisors got ticked off when it was explained to him that county staff could'nt force a homeowner to let them check a backyard for the scores of unpermitted in ground pools and mil studio apartments ('casanitas') so he took it upon himself to enlist a buddy who would help him take aeriel photos of neighborhoods. i don't know what ultimately happened but there was talk of a recall election for invasion of privacy.


i personally wouldn't get involved w/the county and one of my neighbors.

The whole appraiser mess I suspect was a small piece of the passage of Prop 13 in California. I did interviews in 1978 with elderly people who had been in their homes for 40 or 50 years and were now being asked to pay more in property taxes than they paid for the house! That was the other issue.

There is another side to permits. Public safety. We had 2 firefighters killed in 1997 in Stockton when they entered a burning home when an un-permitted second floor that was added on collapsed. Engineers after the fire were surprise that second floor didn't collapse years before because there was inadequate support that a permit, and ensuing inspections, would have caught. And you don't have to watch too many home improvement shows to see what a huge safety issue un-permitted work is across our country. I wasn't happy when I remodeled and had to lay out over $1,000 just for permits. I hope the inspections during the remodel mean everything was done safely.