NOTE - Page will be updated when new dates are announced

Valuation Protest

If you feel that your real estate is currenlty over valued by the county, we offer services in determining the market/equalization value relative to the assessed value. The process starts with filling out a Protest Form and supplying reasoning behind your protest. Unless you provide evidence to the contrary, the law requires the assumption that the assessment is correct (State Statute 77-1502).

Protest Form

Residential and AG Supplemental

Commercial Property Supplemental

NOTE:  Referees will not hold face-to-face hearings with protestors in 2008.

Determining if your Assessed Value is correct

There are two arguments for protesting valuations.

1) Your property is overvalued based on market value.

On the basis of market value, recent sales of comparable properties from the same neighborhood or similar markets can be used to demonstrate the legitimacy of your argument. Age, Condition, Size, ETC all play a role in adjustments. Use sales of properties that require the least amount of adjustments when comparing them to your property. The more adjustments used - the less reliable the data is.

Many county websites offer a sales section. Please see our Assessor page for links to county sites.

Photos of your property - specifically of deferred maintenance (repairs that have been put off) and structural damage. Include an estimate of the repair work with the pictures from at least two different contractors.

An appraisal of your property from a licensed appraiser is the best source for fighting assessed values. NOTE - appraisers are not advocates like attorneys. Your appraisal may in fact support the assessed value and not your opinion. Appraisals are a third party opinion from an uninterested party regarding market value of the subject property. We do not recommend an appraisal for properties where the assessed value and your opinion of what it should be is <$250,000 (Commercial) $75,000 (Residential).

2) Your property is overvalued based on equalization. Simply put this means that your property is not aligned with competing properties assessed valuations.

Fighting your assessed value on this basis requires finding similar properties in your neighborhood and comparing assessed values (not sales) based on Age, Condition, Size, ETC. We recommend using a basic spreadsheet layout with as much data as possible.

Appeal

If you are not happy with your initial valuation protest, you may appeal to the TERC (Tax Equalization and Review Commission) and have your case presented. The TERC board is made up of 4 Governor appointed members whose main duty is hearing appeals of assessed valuation protests.

Appeal Form

Valuation Appeals to the Tax Equalization and Review Commission

What to Expect at your Valuation Hearing

After completing the form, there will be an informal hearing where you present your case. Do not appeal unless you have a solid basis for doing so and have material ready.

Arguments that DO NOT Work

1) I cannot afford to pay these taxes. The County Assessor and TERC are not concerned about your ability or inability to afford your property taxes. They are concerned with the relationship between market value and assessed value.

2) How could my property double in valuation in one year? The County Assessor and TERC are not concerned about the past, they are concerned with the correctness of the assessed value as of today.

Useful Articles

Foreclosures Affect Valuations (2010)

Sanjeev and Bhawana Rathore bought this house near 168th and V Streets in a foreclosure sale last October for $189,000. Now they are protesting its $247,600 tax valuation set by the Douglas County Assessor's Office.

Shattered shingles, gashed gutters and tattered tiles — Sanjeev Rathore says his suburban Omaha home has it all, and then some.

The 34-year-old purchased the house in the Mission Hills neighborhood, near 168th and V Streets, in a bank foreclosure sale last October. He and his wife, Bhawana, 35, knew it was a fixer-upper and paid $189,000, much less than the price of other neighborhood homes.

Now the Bathores are protesting the $247,600 tax valuation set by the Douglas County Assessor's Office.

“Initially, the bank put it up for the assessed value, and no one bid on it,” Sanjeev Rathore said. “So what does that say about the assessed value? It doesn't speak to the market.”

Weaknesses in the housing market could drive protests this month to county boards of equalization across Nebraska.

Priciest Homes Underassessed (2009)

Omaha real estate agent Peter Manhart considers that an outrage. He has been waging a mostly lonely crusade for more than a year, researching valuations and house sales of prominent and well-to-do Omahans and trying to draw attention to valuations he contends are out of line.

“It's very easy to find undervalued properties,” Manhart said. “This could be done much better.”

He took his case to the Omaha City Council's budget hearing this month. He singled out Mayor Jim Suttle, former Mayor Hal Daub and others, telling council members that the city loses substantial revenues through low valuations. If assessed values were higher, Manhart said, the city's financial woes would be lessened.

Douglas County Real Estate Values Remain Much the Same (2009)

Based on what we hear about the economy, homeowners might be wondering if the property tax valuations on homes might be lowered.

Housing Valuations Heading Back Down (2009)

Nearly four of every 10 houses sold last year in Douglas and Sarpy Counties were overvalued, based on a World-Herald analysis of 2008 valuations and sales records. The analysis showed that 2,884 of 7,554 residential properties were assessed above their sales prices.

As a result, those homeowners will pay more in 2008 property taxes than if the valuations better matched sales prices.

Part of the problem stems from the pace of figuring property tax bills in Nebraska. The bills coming due this month generally are based on valuations set a year ago — relying on sales information stretching back two more years. The lag is especially significant now, with the recent economic downturn and sluggish housing market.

Interactive Map

1 in 4 homes overvalued in Douglas and Sarpy

Though most valuation changes are increases, Morrissey and Couch said, the Assessor's Office does decrease valuations if warranted. The office raised valuations on 65,000 homes this year, but lowered valuations on about 4,500 residential properties this spring based on sales data.

26% of reviewed homes to see drop

More see lowered property valuations

Link to Graphic

Although the Omaha-area housing market has taken a downward turn over the past couple of years, that slide wasn't reflected much in last year's valuation notices. That's because of the lag time in the assessing process in the state of Nebraska.

Home Valuations Out, Homeowner Ire Up

About 54,000 Douglas County homes have been revalued. Of those, about 40,000 are getting notice that their valuation went up, meaning they'll pay more in taxes, meaning they're not happy about it.

A World-Herald analysis last summer found that a quarter of the homes in Douglas and Sarpy Counties that had recently sold were valued higher than the sales prices.

Home valuation protests may double this year (2007)

Douglas County could see 12,000 protests this year between those with appointments and the owners who mail in their valuation challenges. That number would be double the usual number of protests.

"We are swamped," said Chief Deputy County Assessor Barry Couch. "There's a mountain (of protests) coming in every day."

Tax commissioner wins fight over his own home's value

Ewald said he wouldn't have had a problem with that assessment if it were in line with his neighbors' assessments. But his home, he said, was being assessed at 100 percent of its market value, while neighboring homes were assessed at 88 percent of their value. State law requires local assessors to value property between 92 and 100 percent of market value.

National Housing Crunch Boosts Tax Protests (2008 Update)

Of the 5,800 protests filed in Douglas County by the June 30 deadline, 25 percent were for properties where the valuation didn’t change from 2007.

Last year, only 2 percent of the 10,660 protests came from property owners whose values hadn’t changed.

Meanwhile, Sarpy County saw a big jump in the number of protests. Owners in Sarpy County filed 990 protests this year, compared with about 660 last year.

Coder and Sam Mandolfo, a Sarpy County referee, said more protesters this year cited the national housing crunch as the reason why their homes’ valuations should drop. The owners believe pretty much all homes are worth less these days, with the Omaha area market feeling the effect of the national housing crisis, they said.

But, Coder said, the local market has not been affected as much as cities on the coasts. Referees can’t do much if protesters don’t provide specific evidence about why their valuations should be lowered, he said. Such evidence includes showing that similar homes in the area are selling for lower values or that similar homes were valued lower by the assessor.

Nearly 2/3rds of Douglas County Protests get reductions (2008)

Nearly two-thirds of Douglas County property owners who protested their valuations this year will be getting some kind of reduction. A total of 5,904 property owners protested. The Douglas County Board today approved valuation cuts for 3,757 of those protesters, or 64 percent. Notices will be sent to protesters this week.