Assessed Value
The assessed value is used to calculate property taxes. Discover how tax assessors determine assessed value and why it differs from market value.
Definition
The assessed value is the dollar amount placed on a property by a municipal or county tax assessor for the purpose of calculating annual property taxes. Assessors typically use mass appraisal techniques, reviewing recent sales data, property size, improvements, and neighborhood factors to assign a value. This figure often differs from the market value established by an appraisal because it may incorporate assessment ratios, exemptions, and caps established by local law. Understanding assessed value helps homeowners anticipate their tax bills and challenge assessments that seem unfairly high.
Why It Matters
Assessed value drives your property tax bill, and Washington counties revalue annually, so a hot year on your street arrives as a bigger bill even though nothing about your house changed. In King County an appeal has to reach the Board of Equalization by July 1 or within 60 days of the valuation notice, whichever is later. Miss that window and you pay the number for the year.
Examples
A Pierce County owner's assessed value moves from $478,000 to $551,000 on one notice. At a levy rate near $9 per $1,000, the annual bill rises about $660.
A buyer sees an assessed value of $612,000 on a house listed at $749,000 and assumes it is overpriced. Three closed sales on the street support the list price; the assessment simply lags the market.
A homeowner over 61 with income under the county threshold files for the senior exemption, freezing the value used for most levies and cutting roughly $1,800 a year off the bill.
Tips
Compare your assessment against four or five similar homes on your street, all public record. An assessment out of line with its neighbors is the strongest appeal you can file.
Check the assessor's property record card for factual errors: wrong square footage, a bedroom you do not have, a garage that was torn down. Correcting a fact is far easier than arguing value.
Price your offer off closed sales and ignore the assessed value shown on the listing. Assessments use mass appraisal against a January 1 valuation date, so they are stale by design.
Related Terms
Property Tax
Property tax is a levy based on assessed value used to fund local services. Learn how property taxes...
Market Value
Market value is the price a property would fetch in a competitive, open market. Discover how apprais...
Appraisal
Appraisals estimate property market value. Learn how licensed appraisers evaluate comparables, condi...
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