How to Fix Nassau County’s Residential & Commercial Real Estate Tax problems
Nassau County and its residents have faced a continuing problem which remains a significant, yet fixable, issue for both homeowners and the County. Based upon the current setup, the primary beneficiary of Residential certiorari claims are the certiorari firms. This problem cannot be solved by throwing the obligation from Nassau County to each of its 3 Townships. Once corrected, Nassau County will be in a better position to transfer the obligation, but this will not happen until a reasonable, workable plan is established, and the values indicated on the tax rolls are corrected.
One major issue is that Nassau County relies on Appraisal firms. Think for a moment…..an Appraisal firm will pull up recent sales over the last three (3) years +/- and average the prices to establish a value. With the constant increase in value of Residential Real Estate though, the only method to accurately evaluate a Residential property is for a seasoned Residential Real Estate Broker with full knowledge of the area establish a Broker’s Opinion of Value. Who would know better about the value of a Residential Property!!!
So how can this be accomplished?
Experienced Residential Brokers are hired to value the 475,000 +/- existing housing units. These Brokers are paid a set fee per valuation, the funds for which would come from the savings to be generated from the Tax Certiorari. The Brokers would also receive CE Credit to offset the required general hours (not mandated courses).
Three Residential Brokers would each evaluate every property. The results would be provided to a panel for review. If there are inconsistencies, the Broker(s) would explain their evaluation to the panel. This would allow for Checks and Balances!
With the values always changing, it is necessary to identify a range for each Residential Properties. For example, (up to $500,000), ($501,000-$650,000), ($651,000- $800,000), ($801,000- $950,000), ($951,000- $1,100,000), ($1,101,000- $1,300,000) ……and so on.
By using ranges, the values may not change in a year or even 5 years. This should greatly reduce the number of contested values of Residential properties on an annual basis, and therefore the workload required to address each.
One major issue is that Nassau County relies on Appraisal firms. Think for a moment…..an Appraisal firm will pull up recent sales over the last three (3) years +/- and average the prices to establish a value. With the constant increase in value of Residential Real Estate though, the only method to accurately evaluate a Residential property is for a seasoned Residential Real Estate Broker with full knowledge of the area establish a Broker’s Opinion of Value. Who would know better about the value of a Residential Property!!!
So how can this be accomplished?
Experienced Residential Brokers are hired to value the 475,000 +/- existing housing units. These Brokers are paid a set fee per valuation, the funds for which would come from the savings to be generated from the Tax Certiorari. The Brokers would also receive CE Credit to offset the required general hours (not mandated courses).
Three Residential Brokers would each evaluate every property. The results would be provided to a panel for review. If there are inconsistencies, the Broker(s) would explain their evaluation to the panel. This would allow for Checks and Balances!
With the values always changing, it is necessary to identify a range for each Residential Properties. For example, (up to $500,000), ($501,000-$650,000), ($651,000- $800,000), ($801,000- $950,000), ($951,000- $1,100,000), ($1,101,000- $1,300,000) ……and so on.
By using ranges, the values may not change in a year or even 5 years. This should greatly reduce the number of contested values of Residential properties on an annual basis, and therefore the workload required to address each.
