Thanks to the information on this website(and a couple others) I was able to win my appeal on my home assessment and get it reduced 22k. I encourage anyone else who thinks they are being overcharged on their property taxes to do a little homework, and see just what the neighborhood's homes are selling for, you might be able to save some $$$$$.

Any other experts with any thoughts/opinions on my situation? If there aren't any homes being sold in my town that are comparable to mine will the Board of Review consider sales in other local towns(within 15 miles) that do have comparable home sales? Thanks for the help !!!

Karen, I went to the town hall & met with the assessor during "open book" and despite my list of a dozen or so other property tax bills from the area(mainly our subdivision) he said that his figures are accurate & he's going with them. When I asked why my home's value is so much higher than the others he just said "somebody has to be on the top". While I don't have access to any recent home sales(I went to the Dane County Register of Deeds office and was told that unless I had "parcel numbers" of houses on sale/sold they didn't have records filed/available) I thought if I asked for home sales in my village for 2008 they would help, I was wrong. All I want is for someone to explain why my 20 yr old, 3 BR 2 story 2300+ ft home is assessed more than other homes of similar sq ft size?(I do seem to have 1 of the only "Colonial style" 2 story homes in the subdivision, most are "ranch" style) A couple of homes right across the street had their property taxes reduced over 20% in 1 yr and are still paying 10% less in 2008 than they did in 2003, without any "disasters" to their homes. To the average taxpayer/homeowner it doesn't make sense and according to the Board of Review, I have to show why the PROFESSIONAL APPRAISER is wrong with specific info that seems, only he has access to. The deck seems stacked against me despite my figures.

It makes sense because you are a cash cow and nothing more for the government.

Welcome to Amerika.

Mickey,
The first thing you may want to do is get an evaluation of what your home's current "market value" is. You can do that by checking your city records- which may mean going into your city/village hall and asking to view sales of homes in your area in the last year. Some municipalities have this information on-line.
Or you could ask a Realtor to do a market evaluation for you and provide you with the data that you could take to your local Assessor to "contest" your tax assessment.

Most municipalities will not want to lose "revenue" so unless you ask to have your assessment reviewed, they probably won't voluntarily do so. It's at least worth a try.

All the Best to you!