The following information should be Front Page News. ALL mobile home owners on rented lots need to read this material and use it, it will give you a step by step process to save alot of money year after year.
******ATTENTION**** The following Double-wide Mobile Home was Appealed on 7/15/2008 and the Real Estate Taxes were reduced 77%, effective for the 2009 tax year. Click button on left to see actual confirmation letter.******
One 10 year old Double-wide in Franklin County PA currently pays over $1000.00 in Total Real Estate Tax per year. It's 2008 Real Market Value is about $18,000.00, it's 1998 New Purchase Value including everything was $42.000.00. As you can quickly see $18,000.00 is less than half of $42,000.00. According to this comparison Taxes should be about $400.00, NOT $1000.00. If you use the Common Level Ratio Market Value it comes to $89,000.00 and see above the Real Market Value is $18,000.00. According to this comparison Taxes should ONLY be about $200.00, NOT $1000.00. This Double-wide had previously never been appealed to the assessment office or had any improvements.
As you can see, the double-wide above is paying 2 to 5 times to much in Real Estate Taxes and it's NOT an isolated incident. This is an outrageous Real Estate Over Taxation of mobile homes on rented lots in Franklin County PA and any other County or State with a similar policy. In Franklin County alone it has to amount to tens of thousands of dollars, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. Because the policy of most Counties in PA are similar to Franklin County the total over taxation for all of PA has to be in the millions of dollars. This is absolutely unacceptable and I find it very interesting that Mobile Homes are not considered Real Estate by any other institution.
Under current Franklin County PA policy the only way to have the assessed value lowered (this will lower your real esate tax bill). For Single-wides you ONLY have to call the assessment office, its just a Phone-in Appeal, but you should follow up (See details below). For Double-wides you have to file an Appeal Form and provide additional supporting evidence, but you should follow up (See details below). Follow up Details Click on the appropriate link on the left side of this page for a step by step process to follow.
The facts are that Mobile Homes (both single & double-wides) depreciate approximately 5% each year and condition of the mobile home can increase or decrease this percentage. With no land to appreciate while the mobile home depreciates, the assessed value of the mobile home can only go down as long as no major improvements have been made. The over taxation basically happens because the assessment office makes no automatic deduction to the assessed value for the yearly depreciation of mobile homes. This is a county wide issue and ALL mobile homes on rented lots fall into this category.
ALL Mobile Homes that are several years old or older on RENTED LOTS are certainly paying to much in Real Estate Tax. In the 5th year you are paying approximately 25% more in Real Estate Tax than you should and it increases 5% each year. In 10 years you will be paying at least twice as much as you should in Real Estate Tax.
This year's CLR Market Value should match any Real Market Value like an APPRAISAL AMOUNT that you just had done. Or the INSURANCE POLICY PAYOUT AMOUNT on a total lose of the structure Only in the current year (this does not include contents). **TIP, NEVER INSURE FOR MORE THAN THE PAYOUT AMOUNT (it changes each year), IF YOU DO YOUR JUST WASTING YOUR MONEY** Call your insurance agent to get the current year's pay out amount on the structure Only. Or the CURRENT BOOK VALUE on your mobile home. Mobile homes have books that give their book value, much like automobiles.
The APPRAISAL AMOUNT, INSURANCE AMOUNT & BOOK VALUE AMOUNT each individually or an average of those 3 amounts should be close to the AMOUNT you get when you multiple your tax bill assessed value times the common level ratio multiplier.
Divide each individually the APPRAISAL AMOUNT, INSURANCE AMOUNT, BOOK VALUE AMOUNT or an average of those 3 amounts by the amount you get when you multiple assessed value on your tax bill times the common level ratio multiplier. Then multiple the result (don't forget the decimal point)times the dollar amount on your tax bill, the result will be what you should be paying in Real Estate Tax.
These are general guide lines.
