I am an attorney and a realtor who has a tax grievance business. I wanted to clarify some of the earlier posts on this thread. It is important when grieving taxes to be aware of the municipality you are dealing with. In Suffolk, each town operates a little differently. In Babylon, the town outsources it evaluation processes making it highly unlikely to win at the Board level. The target valuation date is always July 1. If you are grieving your 2010/2011 taxes, the date we target for value is July 1, 2009. So if you are going to get an appraisal, you don't want recent sales but sales which support a value as of July 1, 2009.

If you are successful at the Board level, you can grieve your taxes the following year. It is only when you win on appeal that you have to wait a year.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Cori Kaplan
cori@taxgriever.com http://www.taxgriever.com
631-470-6033

Although many of my colleagues have advised you to go on various web sites to find comparable homes that is not going to be enough to get you noticed. The municipalities are fighting these grievences with conviction because they are very concerned about losing tax revenue. When fighting "city hall" you need to arm yourself with lots of evidence and factual argument. You must get an appraisel done by a licensed New York state appraiser. Try to get them to use the ost recent closed sales in your area for properties a s similiar to yours as possible. Instead of using a tax grievence service although most do a good job you should hire an attorney who does grievences - much more effective. If you live in an incorporated village those taxes must be greived seperatly. Finally remember if you grieve taxes and win you can not go back the next year and do it again. You have to skip a year before yo are allowed to bring a new grieveance. Good Luck - Let Us know how you do.

Georgia Wetcott
Broker/Ownr
The Wstcott Group REal Estate Company
17 Deer Park Avenue
Babylon New York 11702
631-661-8888

You can get all the values in the area - the web references features my listingbook account that I offer to you. Great way to keep informed on the market and it's free. :)

All i ask is, if you decide to sell or if you know someone who is selling or buying real estate - to have them call me and consider hiring me for the job of helping them!

good day! :)

You may want to hire a licensed appraiser; if you would like to see recent closed properties in your area check MLSLI.com under closed properties.

I want to file a grievance against an appraiser company. they took my money and did the worst serice I ve ever see in history on the value of my house. My Grandmother could do a better job and she's dead.

You really need an appraisal to present to the town assment office. This is done by a qualified professional and not on a mass scale as most communities do it in the later.

Hi Pete, if it is a tax valuation that you are looking to grieve, be aware that in some communities there are specific windows of opportunity in which to file a grievance. If you miss the window, you are stuck with it until next year. Your areas tax department should be able to furnish all the details on the process, as mentioned below. Good luck, Stacey

The easiest way to get the tax assesssment changed is by furnishing them with an appraisal by a Certified Licensed Appraiser. This will usually resolved the issue.

So you want to file a tax grievance. The town should be able to furnish you a list and you get to choose up to 3 comps that match your house. Of course - consulting a local agent in your area (my office is in West Islip) and having them sit down with you to go over sales in the area - or better yet, pending sales that may close very soon.

Putting the motion in the works for a grievance is a good thing - this way, if/when you list your house - your agent can put that in the listing information. Good!

http://www.newyorkappraisal.info
here to help

Trulia.com will be of help and/or E Neighborhoods and/or a local "Realtor" who can help you with a CMA and BPO for your home. Once you have the correct value, you can either grieve the Taxes directly with Babylon Town's Assessor or hire a tax grievance firm that will do all of the above. If you need the names of local firms that do tax grievances, let me know.

Hi Pete. I am not clear on what kind of a grievance you are thinking of. Are you unhappy with a recent appraisal or are you thinking of challenging the assessed value of your property because you want to pay less property taxes? The easiest way to get fresh recent sales data of comparable homes is by calling a local real estate agent who can provide you with that information. If you want to get your assessed value lowered, you can also call your assessor's office and ask them what kind of information they'll consider as proof for a lower value. I hope this helps. Good luck to you.