The Real Kirkland

By Jennifer Nilssen, Realtor, CNE

Kirkland, WA-

What are happening to property taxes in Kirkland?

 I’ve gotten quite a few questions in recent weeks about 2010 tax amounts.  No doubt due to many household’s efforts to lower their monthly outlay. Many of the questions that we’ve received looked something like this:

“Hi Jen.  I see that my property taxes have not been assessed recently and are inaccurate and are still quite high.  Can you send over what my taxes are looking like for 2010?  I’m looking forward to seeing my tax bill go down this year!”   

Unfortunately the total property tax amounts won’t be available until February, so we can’t know for certain what our individual tax bills will look like until the counties make them available then.

2010 assessed values were calculated and notifications were sent out to homeowners around July of 2009.  Homeowners may be surprised to find out that while many assessments have gone down all around the Puget Sound, the individual property tax amounts probably won’t be changing too much. But it’s better than the noticeable increase that’s been taking place for the past few years.

Here is a link quick video presentation that we made available last July in response to many of these same questions.  It will guide you through the process so that you will better understand how taxes are calculated, and why your individual tax bill may be going up slightly. 

http://www.talonnw.com/flash/taxes.html

 How are my Property taxes and property value determined?
The county assessor must determine the fair market value of property using one or more of three generally accepted appraisal methods: The Market approach, Cost Approach, or Income Approach. This is the basis for what you will pay. However, there are also levies passed in the area you live in that will determine to the amount of taxes needed to be collected in your taxing district. These levies include operating costs of schools, city and county government and other taxing districts such as the Port of Seattle, library, hospital, fire and sewer districts. A large part of each property tax dollar goes to pay off bonds for such capital costs as school buildings and other public projects. The tax rate on your property is the figure resulting from dividing the dollar amount required for the taxing district by the total value of property within the district and then adding up the rates of the various districts in which your property is located. The assessed value of your property, multiplied by the combined rate, produces a tax amount which is your fair share of the total property tax levy in your area.

 Whew! That was  a major amount of thinking. My head hurts.

You can more easily estimate what your property taxes will be if you know the “assessed value” of your property and the tax levy rate.

For example, if the assessed value of your property is $200,000 and the levy rate is $13 per thousand dollars of value:

 What Happened in Kirkland? Why do we pay so much?!

Well, Kirkland property values have always been high in comparison to other areas of King County.  Not always the highest, but high. People see value in living here because we are well located, close to Seattle, Microsoft, now Google,  and major arterials, have beautiful scenery, good schools, and have general overall appeal. The price of the average home in King County in April of ’06 was $325k – it was $475k in Kirkland during that same time according to the Seattle Times. A Money Magazine online article listed Kirkland as one of the top ten places to live in the country in 2007. The average household income in Kirkland was $115,198 compared to $72,105 in the rest of King County in 2008 according to the City of Kirkland. 

When the boom hit, Kirkland home prices, particularly those in Downtown, Houghton, West of Market, and East of Market neighborhoods rose unnaturally fast, and therefore the property values increased at a rate disproportionate to those in the rest of King County.  The assessor again bases home values as an appraiser would – on homes comparable sales. We also passed a significant amount of levies in our area which added to the amount we pay.

It used to be that property taxes in Kirkland were actually low in comparison to the rest of King County. In 2004, the property tax general levy rate in Kirkland was $8.99 per $1,000 of assessed valuation, compared to $10.50 for the greater King County. For a $400,000 home in Kirkland, the average property tax paid in 2007 was $3,596. And the levy rate today is still average in comparison to the other cities in King County, it’s that our home values are still assessed pretty high.

 Good news for King County Property Owners…

 Recently, King County Assessor , Lloyd Hara addressed King County home owners stating that we shouldn’t be nervous about receiving our 2010 assessments.  This was not the case in early 2009 when then King County Assessor, Scott Noble, forecasted that property taxes will show an overall 6.16% increase over the prior year.

He went on to say that the Department of Assessments will be mailing out property value notices over the next few months. These notices indicate the appraised value of property, as of January 1, 2009, for the purpose of 2010 property tax distribution.

A light at the end of the tunnel! Hara goes on the say:

Homeowners will generally see a slight reduction in assessed value. The real estate market in King County has shifted dramatically in the past year. An additional downward adjustment was warranted to account for lack of sales and the influence of distressed sales on the housing market. Most homeowners will see a significant reduction in the assessed value of their home.

Lowering Your Property Taxes Anywhere in King County by Appealing…

What if you receive your notice and you feel your property value is still high? Property owners who believe the new assessed value of their property exceeds its fair market value have the opportunity to appeal each year following receipt of the Assessors Valuation. You can dispute the valuation by timely filing a petition to the King County Board of Equalization (BOE).

DON’T MISS YOUR FILING DEADLINE! Petitions must be received by the Board on OR before July 1st of the assessment year OR within sixty (60) calendar days after the date listed on the Assessor’s value change notice – whichever date is later.

Filing an appeal with the BOE requires the submission of  TWO sets of the BOE’s petition form. Download the real property petition form here.

MUST READ:

You MUST evidence your appeal with findings by using actual sold comparables. There are 2 ways I know of to do this reliably:

1. Sign up for the HBMR website. There is a private website (you just need a Realtor sponsor to give you a username and password) that will give you easy, direct access to MLS information, and specifically sold comps around your address. I can give any of you access and all you have to do is email me at  jen@tecrealestate.com and request HBMR access. It is absolutely FREE and there are no strings attached and you won’t be solicited the way you might be by searching other local real estate company websites. You can also choose to have the site notify you of any future sales in your neighborhood. This comes in handy for next year’s appeal or if you decide to sell. 

2. Have myself or another Realtor pull comps for you. Sure, you can do it yourself but since Metroscan and neighborhood gossip are unreliable, so I would not suggest taking the chance. This is dollars in your pocket, People!  Have a real estate professional help you out with the portion that asks you to back your claim with verifiable comps.  This is also FREE of charge and you can request comps from me by emailing me at jen@tecrealestate.com .