[Marilyn]

When we fought our appraisal, unsuccessfully as previously stated, we did lots of research on the appraisal website checking out the appraisals of comparable homes. We also worked with a realtor we know who pulled all the multiple listed homes in our area that sold within the last 6 months. We talked with an appraiser who stated that values have dropped 25 or so percent in the past few months in our area. We walked in with spreadsheets all prepared & the first thing our appraisor did before we went before the board was to pull us into his office to try to settle before we went to the board. He had us lay our cards on the table then asked us to leave and wait in the lobby and we could go before the board in about 15 minutes. He had us show our hand and then he spent 15 minutes preparing his defense with the county computer system there all loaded with all the information he needed to build a case to match our appraisal using other homes that were appraised too high, and showing that ours was right in the middle. The he pulled out his hidden ace. Our home is classified as brick, and it's stone, so they said they could raise our appraisal $30,000 if they wanted to. They won't this year, but said that next year it will go up that much plus more to compensate for appreciation and the stone. That's why we are selling. This is crazy. We finally have our dream home paid for, and we are selling it because the taxes are just more than we want to pay. We can buy an older home of about the same size, do some remodeling and take a very nice vacation each year with the tax savings.

Gina, since you are a realtor, you probably know all the ins and outs. Wish you the best tomorrow!!!!!