Property tax bills are making more South Floridians howl this year, as declining property values and strapped local budgets set up a clash of perspectives. Appeals jumped 40 percent in Palm Beach County, and 9 percent in Broward County this year. Miami-Dade has already matched its appeal rate from last year, but local authorities are not yet finished counting the appeals filed before the deadline last month. The rise comes on the heels of adjustments to the appeals process. In the past, taxpayers who sought to challenge an appraisal needed to prove that the assessment was wrong, but recent changes to state law have saddled appraisers with a greater burden of proof. [Sun Sentinel]

The taxable value of property in Miami-Dade and Broward counties has
dropped from the past year, according to the appraisers’ offices.
Miami-Dade saw a 13 percent drop, about $32 billion in taxable value.
Broward values dropped about 10 percent, a $19 billion slide. Tax
notices will be issued August 24. [more]

Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors,
said the housing market’s bottoming process is imperiled by inaccurate
home appraisals. He said it’s a nationwide issue and that lenders often
use appraisers who might not be familiar with a neighborhood, or who
compare traditional homes with distressed and discounted sales. Bill
Richardson, district sales manager for Keyes Co. in Boca Raton, said
many deals are being delayed by appraisal issues. [more]

As home values deteriorate, lenders are pressuring appraisers to be
more conservative in their estimates of home values. Doing appraisals
is more difficult even without that pressure, as home values are
shifting quickly and sale prices from previous months no longer match
the market. Several appraisers said many of the appraisals they are
doing now are too low to allow the homeowners to refinance their
mortgages. Low appraisals can also result in homeowners’ home equity
credit lines being seized, as happened to the owner of one
2,650-square-foot Manhattan apartment appraised at $1.475 million in
2005 and worth $600,000 today. [more]