Ultimate Lakewood Real Property Tax Guide for 2024
Guide Overview
Understand how Lakewood sets its real property taxes with our comprehensive review. If you are already living here, only pondering taking up residence in Lakewood, or interested in investing in its property, learn how local real estate taxes operate.
Average Property Tax Rate in Lakewood
Lakewood Property Taxes Range
Lakewood Property Taxes Range
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You May Be Charged an Unfair Property Tax Amount
You may not know that your real estate tax is set too high compared to your house’s actual market value. Not surprising though when presumed similar properties in locales are appraised at the same fair market value based upon only a few — again presupposed — representative properties’ appraised values. Also there’s the human error factor, i.e. misjudgments are predestined. Still there is a procedure to contest the accuracy of your tax assessment and have it decreased if it’s an overstatement of tax.
Having refinanced lately, be certain duplicate billings haven’t been imposed. With vigilance scrutinize your assessment for any other possible discrepancies. Each taxpayer’s Lakewood levy is obtainable to visitors on the web. Compare your home’s estimated value against like houses in your area, while at the same time taking special note of new sales. Also contemplate the likely effect of recent market trends on sale prices in total.
Even if you’re hesitant whether or not your bill is bloated, take steps right away. Not a worry if you’re feeling helpless. There are service providers ready to contest bills for you without risk, no out-of-pocket costs. More information later on in the guide.
What Is a Tax Protest Procedure?
When you have reason to suppose that your real property tax value is unreasonably high, you can always question the assessment. The county is the entity that assessed the property and it will hear your appeal.
You can find the necessary appeal rules and the documents on the county’s website or at the county tax office. Study the procedures thoroughly prior to filling out the forms. If you don’t follow the process completely, your appeal might not be heard.
Your tax notification will give you a time period in which you are allowed to file your protest. Do not lose any time arranging your protest papers or you may miss the time limit.
You’ll be more successful if you have a full copy of the appraisal file from the county. The appraisal report might be the critical factor in the success of your protest. If the tax assessor made mistakes, like matching your property to dissimilar properties, you’ll have good cause to protest.
If you file a complete presentation with supporting documentation, the county might make a decision without requiring that you go through a formal protest. Otherwise, you’ll have to appear before a review panel and submit your protest in detail. Your protest will depend on proving that your real estate’s tax value is not accurate. High real property tax rates and strong real estate value growth in your area are not valid reasons to appeal.
The posted rules should tell you how you can protest the county’s judgement at the state level if you are sure it is wrong.
Any real property owner can question a property tax assessment. Before you do, take a look at what the valuation actually does to your yearly real property tax bill. Carefully determine your actual real property tax including any tax exemptions that you are qualified to utilize. What appears to be a large appreciation in value may only turn into a tiny boost in your tax payment.
At this point, property owners usually order service of one of the best property tax attorneys in Lakewood WA.
How to Get Your Taxes Reduced for Free?
You’ll pay only if you achieve a tax reduction when you sign up with appeal companies on a contingent fee basis. Service charges are tied to a percentage of any taxes reduced by your consultant. Without tax savings, you don’t pay at all!
Motivated to find tax saving possibilities, property tax advisory companies totally review your billing and are prepared for potential litigation. Protest companies are frequently engaged to focus on dozens of available exemptions known to be particularly complicated and litigious.
Two accepted ways for appraisal do-overs are mostly used to bolster appeals. A re-evaluation frequently incorporates one of these methods, i.e. a “sales comparison” or an “unequal appraisal” evaluation. Both done in one locality, sales comparisons rely on recent sale prices while unequal appraisals demonstrate similar properties’ estimated values mismatches.
Community independent appraisal companies that specialize in full appraisals frequently utilize the sales comparison method. Frequently a prerequisite, complete reexaminations are conducted onsite. Being a complete re-evaluation performed by an appraiser licensed by the state, its revisions are largely irrefutable. Changes can only follow from, yet again, a whole re-assessment. This approach estimates a subject property’s fair market value using current comparable sales results from more alike real estate in the area.
The unequal appraisal routine is used to find potential tax reductions even if appraised values don’t exceed existing market values. By community, a report of properties that are nearly equal in appraised market value is generated via an automated procedure. Next comes a contrasting of these real properties respective tax levy amounts within each group. Many times a resulting tax assessed discrepancy that’s 10% or more above the sampling’s median level will be reviewed. Clients are often charged a percentage applied to any tax savings, so they aren’t charged any out-of-pocket cost or any fee at all without gaining some savings.
Find a tax professional corresponding to your needs in this directory of the best property tax protest companies in Lakewood WA.
How Lakewood Real Estate Tax Works
Given authority by the state, municipal administrations administer property taxation. Generally taxing entities’ tax levies are merged under a single notice from the county. Each municipality then receives the tax it levied. There are three vital stages in taxing real estate, i.e., setting levy rates, assigning property market worth, and collecting payments.
Under state law, the government of Lakewood, public colleges, and thousands of other special units are authorized to evaluate housing market value, fix tax rates, and assess the tax. All are public governing units administered by elected or appointed officials. These units operate within defined geographical borders, such as an agricultural preserve or hospital district.
The city’s conduct of property taxation must not break Washington’ statutory guidelines. All property not eligible for exemption must be taxed equally and uniformly on one current market worth basis. Proper notification of any levy increase is also a requirement.
Within those boundaries, Lakewood determines tax levies. As will be covered later, appraising property, billing and collecting payments, undertaking compliance efforts, and resolving disputes are all reserved for the county.
The current market value of real property found in Lakewood is estimated by county assessors. Once again, the state has mandated guidelines which county real estate appraisers must carry out. These imperatives are designed to boost consistency throughout Washington. This is a likely area to scrutinize for evaluation discrepancies and human error.
With many versions, there are three main appraisal methods for estimating a property’s worth. A Sales Comparison is based on looking at average sale prices of equivalent homes in the community. The Income Capitalization method estimates current market value based upon the property’s expected income generation plus the property’s resale value. One variation of the Cost method adds major improvement spendings to the original commercial property investment while deducting allowable depreciation.
A county appraiser generally reevaluates properties’ market value once every three years at least. A revised value is then multiplied times a composite rate from all taxing entities together to determine tax billings. Taxing units include cities, counties, school, and different types of special districts such as water treatment plants, recreational parks, and colleges.
Who and How Determines Lakewood Property Tax Rates?
According to the state’s constitution, real estate appraisals are carried out by counties only. These evaluations have to be made without consideration for revenue hits.
Under Washington taxation requirements, reappraisals must be done periodically. Typically new appraisals employ a sweeping technique applied to all alike property in the same locality without individual property inspections. Lacking single home visits and notice of the house’s drawbacks, for example serious flood damage, those tax cutting opportunities might be overlooked.
Appraisers started by creating a descriptive list of all non-exempt buildings and land, aka a tax roll. The roll depicts by address all properties within a particular geographic district. Gathered from different sources, these properties were categorized predicated on square footage, use, amenities, and building type. Other inputs such as age and location were also considered when creating these groups by class, which then had market values assigned en masse. These days, without another checkup, armed with often outdated, possibly inaccurate data — with only recent property sales numbers being current — assessors must rely upon those collectively attached estimated market worth.
These instructive guidelines are made obligatory to secure equitable property market value assessments. Because of this broad-brush approach, it’s not just likely but also inevitable that some market worth evaluations are off the mark. Grounds for appeal lie in wait here!
Lakewood as well as every other in-county public taxing entity can at this point compute required tax rates as market value totals have been established. As calculated, a composite tax rate times the market worth total will reflect the county’s whole tax burden and include individual taxpayer’s share. So it’s largely just budgeting, first setting a yearly expenditure level. Then they compute the tax rates required to equal those budgeted expenses. In principle, tax revenues will be same as the amount of all annual funding.
In the state there are multiple neighborhood-based governmental entities from counties to cities to special purpose units. They all set their own tax rates depending on fiscal requirements. Nearly all the sub-county entities have agreements for the county to bill and collect their tax.
Both routinely arranged and previously unscheduled public hearings usually play an important role in this budgetary routine. Also, note that by law, taxpayers’ can petition for a public vote should any proposed rate hikes exceed a stipulated limit.
Expressly stated under the Washington Constitution, taxing bodies, such as Lakewood, have restrictions on raising taxes. In short, rates must not be increased until after Lakewood provides notice of its plan to consider an increase. Then, a public formal meeting must be convened to explain the proposal.
If Lakewood property taxes are too high for you causing delinquent property tax payments, you may want to obtain a quick property tax loan from lenders in Lakewood WA to save your property from a potential foreclosure.
What Are Lakewood Real Estate Taxes Used For?
Real estate tax funds are the cornerstone of local neighborhood budgets. Besides counties and districts like schools, many special districts like water and sewer treatment plants as well as parks and recreation facilities are funded with tax capital.
These are some of the public services most local governments customarily provide. It typically accounts for the biggest portion of the general revenue fund in these counties and municipalities. Not only for counties and cities, but also down to special-purpose districts as well, such as sewage treatment plants and recreational parks, with all reliant on the real property tax.
A large piece of real estate tax payments goes toward district schools. Other big-ticket expenditures are local government worker salaries/benefits and public safety. Maintaining police and fire fighting is another material expense. Other large responsibility are public transportation and highway work followed by maintenance and restoration. Water and sewage treatment plants lead the way in sanitation concerns similarly to hospitals in healthcare. Don’t forget about organized recreation services including athletic courts and various entertainment areas. To sum up, “It all adds up!”
How Are Property Taxes Handled at Closing in Lakewood?
Real estate tax remittances are normally paid beforehand for the whole year. Then who pays property taxes at closing if it happens during the tax year? When buying a house, at final settlement, property ownership changes over from sellers to purchasers. At the same time, liability for the tax shifts with the ownership transfer. From that point, purchasers pay back sellers on a pro-rata basis.
Generally, this is not a proportional tax remittance paid straight to former owners, however. Rather loan holders, settlement lawyers, or escrow firms will include the prorated tax amount with other buyer payment obligations on closing.