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Property Taxes

The county, city, or state you choose to purchase in charges property taxes which are based on the assessed value of your home.  These property taxes are typically included in your monthly payment in that 1/12th of your tax bill is paid into your escrow account.  What is escrow?

You can look up the property tax bill and/or the assessed value for any property.  Here below are the links to the nearby jurisdictions in our region:

 

Washington DC

 

Maryland

Montgomery County

Prince George’s County

Here’s the website to lookup assessments in MD – the state does the assessments.

Virginia

Arlington County

Fairfax County

City of Alexandria

 

Your assessed value of your home is not necessarily an accurate reflection of the market value of your home.  The government will base their assessed value on comparable market data, knowledge about the construction of the property, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, and square footage.

It is unlike an appraisal in that an appraisal of your home also incorporates a visual inspection and a human comparison of your property against other comparable properties.  Since the government assesses every property in the jurisdiction, they must leverage technology and market data to put forth their best estimate of the value of the property.

Here is info I put together on appealing your property assessment if you think the valuation is high.