Contesting timeshare assessment value

As we all know, the value of timeshares has plummeted. I would like to contest the current assessed value that happens to be $3000 higher than what I paid for the California timeshare. (I only paid $4600 and that is much higher than they are currently selling for.)

What kind of proof can I provide? I do not live in CA so I can't go to the assessor's office.

Copy recent ebay completed sales? Any suggestions? Thanks for your help.

travelplanner70 said:

As we all know, the value of timeshares has plummeted. I would like to contest the current assessed value that happens to be $3000 higher than what I paid for the California timeshare. (I only paid $4600 and that is much higher than they are currently selling for.)

What kind of proof can I provide? I do not live in CA so I can't go to the assessor's office.

Copy recent ebay completed sales? Any suggestions? Thanks for your help.

Click to expand...

If the tax assessors office in California is anything like the one in Florida, where I live and in Maryland where I used to live, what you paid for the real estate has nothing to do with the assessed value...But recent sales does

They may not see an auction (ebay) as representative of market value (willing buyer/willing seller) even though an auction is probably the best test of market value. So I would go to the land records and either do a search, or pay someone to do a search for you. You have to know the appeal process in the county where the property is located and then follow it. It may or may not require a visit

I think you would be better off with a group effort (ie everyone that owns at this property). The property owners association may have some advice for you, or may be able to make the appeal on behalf of all the owners there.

They hold the cards

In most areas the whole complex has to challenge not just an individual unit. CA may have different rules. In any case there are certain assumptions - the assessor is right and the owner must prove them wrong, many "types" of sales aren't considered open market & thus don't count - and more that mean it is not easy to challenge and win. And when you do win they can in turn challenge THAT so it can drag on for years. In the meanwhile you must pay what they said or be in arrears.

It's a racket but if they are out of line or far higher than actual sales show then it can be worth fighting. We recently fought ours starting in 2006 and won in 2008 - but lost 2009 & 2010. Then it took us until last month to reach agreement on those 3 years (with 2011 looming now and no guarantee how much THAT will be raised!) but they did lower the amounts in the final settlement for all three years. It ended up as fair as we felt we'd be able to get. The system is in favor of the Assessor for sure.

I think most timeshares are assessed based on the value of the whole property, and then split among the owners based on unit size. In the case of timeshares, the property as a whole is most likely worth way more than the sum of all the individual timeshare weeks on the open market. For example, a lot of timeshares are selling for $1 -- do you really think the value of a 100-unit timeshare would be $5200 (52 weeks * 100 units) for the whole property?

You can try, but I doubt you will have any luck reducing a single week's assessment.

Kurt

We just went through this with a timeshare we bought in Palm Desert. We are receiving a refund of a portion of the taxes we paid for the current fiscal year because the assessed value was less than the value assessed to the prior owner.

I spoke with the assessors office and they told me that they use the most common price paid within the three months following the date we bought the property. For example: the prior owner was assessed almost $12,000 of value. We paid $3,000 for it. The assessor went through their process and determined the new value is $7,000. We paid our taxes based on the $12k so we will receive a refund in the coming months based on the reduction from 12k to 7k. I obviously would have preferred it was based on what we paid, but I don't think we can fight their process since we only own 1/52 of one unit. Our purchase prize was very low and I know that others have paid more on eBay, and resellers in the desert sell them for between 7k and 12k, so I am OK with the result.

I hope this explanation of my understanding of the process in Riverside County is helpful. Happy vacationing!

Thank you for your insights. I, too, own at Desert Springs Villas and had the same reduction to $7000 although more than what we paid. I guess I will not bother contesting the assessment from what people have said.

Thanks again.

The government probably looks at the value of a piece of property as what it would be worth from a commercial standpoint rather than as a timeshare.

That's probably why drive in movies of the 50-70's closed. The owner couldn't make enough money to pay the taxes on the land and a profit. The government looks at the vacant land and sees a shopping mall or factory. $$$$

In California, there are two mechanisms for assessment review.

You can file an informal request from January 1 to April 30 of each year. This is free and you can send in any information you have, including sometimes just a request for the assessor to review comparable sales. Contact the county assessor after January 1 and ask how, or check their website.

You can file a formal appeal July 2 through September 15. This will result in a hearing (maybe a year later) at which you or a representative must appear and present evidence as to the value on January 1 of the year being contested. Counties are beginning to try to charge fees for this. Remember, you're going to save 1% of the assessment reduction ... is it worth the cost of attending?

Assessors do use ALL sales data in the prescribed time frame, so the problem is that some folks are still buying at way-over-market prices, or even from the developer.

There are several threads here about this in more detail.