Is the Property Tax Assessment Fair Market Value?
This is a question as a real estate agent I often hear. Sellers typically want their property tax assessment to be low so that their taxes are low, so they almost always feel that their home is worth more than the tax assessment indicates. Buyers typically don’t want to pay more than the property tax assessment because they feel that if the jurisdiction the real estate is in has determined a certain value, then they shouldn’t pay more for a property than that amount. According to Dictionary.com, the definition of assessment is: An official valuation of property for the purpose of levying a tax; an assigned value. True fair market value of any commodity (real estate included) is arrived at when a buyer and seller agree to a price with specific terms and consummate the transaction; neither party is under duress, the parties are unrelated and thus at an “arms length”; the commodity has had adequate exposure to the open market and financing terms are typical. So the technical answer is the
