The county assessor’s office has been warning residents to be wary of companies promising to save them tax dollars by reassessing their property values — something the county does for free.

As the Nov. 31 deadline to file property reassessment appeals nears, residents should be cautious of letters from companies promising to save homeowners property tax dollars, if they pay up to $200, said Santa Barbara County Clerk-Recorder & Assessor Joe Holland.

Some of these letters have due dates, prompting unassuming recipients to promptly send in fees to avoid costly penalty charges. 

“All these companies are doing is calling us to review the property value,” Holland explained. “(It’s) something the homeowner can do for free.” 

 

So-called “decline in value requests” allow property owners to ask county assessors to review the value of their properties for tax purposes, if they believe the market value has dropped; and with recent declines in the housing market, thousands of homeowners have done so.

Holland said while companies that provide services his office does for free aren’t breaking any laws, they are committing what he called “scams” by taking advantage of unsuspecting homeowners.

“Our own people bring in these notices,” Holland said. “My chief appraiser got a notice, and it said the value of his house was $350,000 and that he should request a review. He knows it was $800,000. Many of these services are misleading.”

Holland said that many of the letters he’s seen look like government documents.

“By not clearly showing that they are not a government agency or are approved by one is a violation of California law,” he said. 

Buellton resident Young Lee said he has seen four of these mailings over the past year. “A lot of them have come from Orange County,” he said. “They look like clerk letters and they charge from $100 to $180.”

 

Young said he tosses the letters in the trash can.

“These companies are exploiting vulnerable people,” he said. “It’s wrong.”

Santa Barbara County is not the only jurisdiction warning its residents of these scams, some of which have landed people in court.

Last month, a Simi Valley man was charged with 20 felony counts for running an outfit that sent out thousands of mailers to people, charging $200 for property tax reassessment and reassessment appeal services that were almost never performed. The company reportedly warned homeowners they faced late fees and would be ineligible for future reassessment services if payments were late.

But are all companies that help homeowners lower their assessed values running a scam?

David Brown, CEO and mortgage planner for Residential Mortgage of Solvang, who has an ownership in a company that provides such services, said no, and accused Holland of exaggerating the problem.

Speaking to a group of realtors in Santa Ynez, Holland allegedly said that every company that provides reassessment services was a scam, Brown said, adding that Holland has since retracted his remark.

 

Brown said casting all companies that provide reassessment services as scam-artists is akin to someone calling the IRS and telling them that every certified public accountant is dishonest and provides no value to customers because some people can do their own taxes.

“What Mr. Holland should have said was, ‘Be careful and look at the people who are providing you with that information,’” Brown said. “There are scammers out there, but there are also companies that will do the footwork to ensure that a property owner is getting the lowest assessed value possible.”

Holland told the Journal that legitimate companies exist, and that he meant to focus on the unscrupulous companies that have been cropping up in the wake of the housing bust. 

Brown said because most county assessor’s offices are understaffed and overworked, they don’t always look as closely as they could at some properties.

When legitimate companies negotiate with the county — even attending assessment appeal hearings on the property owner’s behalf — it forces them to take a closer look at the property owner’s tax reduction, he said.

But Brown went further, claiming that the county has no incentive to reduce property taxes.  

“I don’t think they’re being as aggressive as they could be given the real estate conditions,” he said. “It’s like the fox guarding the hen house.”

“I got an assessment of one of my properties in Lompoc,” he said. “The assessment they did was likely 30 percent above the actual market value. So it was courtesy type of reduction to avoid getting an appeal.”

Holland responded: “I’m an elected official and my job is to use the fair market or base year property value.”

 

This past year, the county lowered 20,000 assessments, with 95 percent completed without the property owner asking for a review, Holland pointed out.

“If a property owner disagrees, they have the right to appeal,” he said. “And if they still do not think the value reduction is reasonable, they can always file an appeal with the Clerk of the Board. At that time they can search for sales on the website (sbcassessor.com/MapLocator.aspx) or hire a real estate professional to represent them in the appeals process.”

Property owners looking to have their properties reassessed through private companies are advised to not do business with companies that misrepresent themselves as a government agency or a government-endorsed company; to use credit cards to pay for services; and to go with companies that offer money-back guarantees.

 

jfoster@syvjournal.com