I would first like to comment by saying that we can’t guarantee a) your value will absolutely come in lower than your assessed value until we do your report and b) you need to consider the cost benefit to you.

For example: To hire a professional like me may cost you $425 including taxes.  This may require a reduction in assessed value of nearly $140,000 just to break-even on our fee.  Again, doing some homework in advance can save you this cost.

(Please note: The $425 is for a standard single family dwelling or strata condominium and that unique property with high price points (e.g. over $1M) or unique features such as acreage, views, and extraordinary large gross living areas as an example, would be quoted separately.)

On average, a $100,000 reduction in assessed property value may reduce your potential property tax bill by $300 annually.  Remember, this is strictly a residential tax rate example.  All city and municipal tax rates will ultimately determine your potential tax savings if this is achievable, and each has different tax rates.

For some people, perhaps, if you have the time to do your research to find comparable sales as close to July 1, 2017 as possible.  You can use the BC Assessment website to help you navigate some info as Mark has outlined here on this page.

The mill rate is a figure that represents the amount per $1,000 of the assessed value of your property which is used to calculate the amount of property tax you will pay.  The “tax rate” represents the exact same amount, just the use of a different term.

Great question!  The City budget is divided by the total Assessment Base which, it should be noted, will not only grow from property value market increases, but also from newly created subdivisions such as new condo towers, townhouse developments and every new construction and/or improvement built on a new parcel of land registered at the Land registry office.

For those inclined to know the math behind this impact, here it goes:

Let’s assume a city has an assessment base of $1,000,000,000 this year and the market increases 10%.  The new assessment would then be $1,100,000,000.

Added to that would be the above-noted new subdivisions/condo towers/townhouses etc.

Let’s says 1,000 new units were created at $300,000 each.

The Assessment base would then contribute $300,000,000 more to the new base of $1,100,000,000 noted above.

The total Assessment BASE at the time of creating the tax rate/mill rate would then be $1,400,000,000.

Having said all that, each new owner and family to occupy the newly created units will utilize City and Provincial services, send kids to schools, use the hospitals etc. so that the new proposed 2018-19 budget must extend its estimate to cover these 1,000 new units.  So it never drops.

This explains the age-old adage that two things in life are guaranteed: Death and Never-ending Tax Increases!….Meaning the Budget will go way up before being applied mathematically to the new Assessment Base.