Plenty of Seattle-area homeowners have complaints about their property taxes, but not everyone bothers with one tool they may have to lower them: appealing their assessed property value.
In fact, it seems, the homeowners most alert to that tactic are those already enjoying the most financial security.
Homeowners in Medina and Clyde Hill are more than five times as likely to appeal their property valuations, which help determine their tax bills, as homeowners in Seattle, Renton or Kent, according to an analysis of appeals data from 2021 through 2024.
And because their homes are worth more, they tap into larger tax savings even as they win at roughly the same rate as other homeowners.
Researchers have documented similar trends elsewhere in the country, offering a window into who benefits most from the appeals system and where county tax savings flow.
Financial and educational resources, among other conditions, can play a part in who is willing to go through the process, which can be time-consuming even though it is accessible to all property owners.
Many homeowners “don’t have, necessarily, always the time or the resources to invest in this stuff,” said William Doerner, a research affiliate at MIT’s Center for Real Estate who has studied property tax appeals.
Who appeals?
Because of the way Washington’s property tax system works, higher valuations aren’t the biggest driver of recent property tax hikes. Voter-approved levies for schools, parks or other needs can increase taxes separate from what’s happening in the real estate market.
But homeowners who believe the county is overvaluing their property can appeal within 60 days of receiving a new valuation notice in the mail.
Seattle tech worker Peter Overman has appealed the county’s valuation of his contemporary four-bedroom home in Wedgwood home nearly every year since he bought it in 2019. After going through a lengthy process that “felt ridiculous,” he crunched the appeals numbers using publicly available county data.
Countywide, less than 1% of homeowners appeal their property valuation each year, according to separate county data. And roughly a quarter of all property owners who appeal succeed.
Appeals were most common on the Eastside, where incomes and home values trend higher: Among cities with at least 1,000 homes, the share of homeowners who appealed was highest in Medina, Clyde Hill, Sammamish and Duvall, according to Overman’s analysis of 2021-24 data, verified by The Seattle Times.
In the tiny enclave of Hunts Point, nearly 11% of homeowners appealed — the highest rate in the county, though small numbers can skew percentages.
Looking at home value, rather than location, the owners of homes worth between $2 million and $3 million were nearly eight times as likely to appeal as the owners of homes valued between $500,000 and $1 million.
Success rates were more inconsistent, with relatively low shares of homeowners winning their appeals in some tony areas while others saw more wins.
In hopes of encouraging more homeowners to appeal, Overman built a website, Property Appeal Data Services, or PADS, that estimates a home’s value and uses artificial intelligence to help homeowners file appeals.
“I’m all for paying taxes. I vote yes on all these property tax levies. I want to support the causes,” Overman said. “I just think it should be fair.”
‘Too many variables’
An array of factors shapes who is most likely to appeal their property valuation.
Higher-end homes can have more variants like views and waterfront footage that can make a big difference in the value if wrongly estimated, said Amy Hoppe, vice president of Harley H. Hoppe & Associates, who represents homeowners appealing their valuations, many on the Eastside.
“There’s too many variables that can be overlooked.”
Appeals usually tick up after big market shifts and in areas where the assessor recently physically inspected properties, which occurs on a rotating six-year cycle, according to the county.
Owners of more expensive homes are also more likely to notice a value increase, Hoppe said.
A homeowner whose $400,000 value increased to $450,000 may say, “OK, well, I know the market’s gone up,” Hoppe said. “But when you see like $4 million going up to $4.5 million, people are kind of like, ‘Well, I don’t think I could sell my house for that.’”
Although a small share of all residential and commercial property owners appeal each year — less than 1% — that is one of the highest appeals rates in the state. But county officials warn those rates may be skewed by the fact that some other counties allow informal appeals over the phone, which might not be recorded.
“The taxpayer needs to look at that revalue notice,” Hoppe said, “and say, ‘Could I have sold my house for this amount, on Jan. 1 (of the valuation year)?’”
Hoppe’s firm offers a free analysis, then, if hired to appeal, charges $350 to file and takes a varying percentage of any tax savings up to 35%. Other companies offer similar services with a range of payment models.
Where those tax agents advertise could also play a role in who appeals, said Doerner, the researcher, who analyzed appeals in Miami-Dade County, Fla., in 2014 and found similar trends.
Doerner and a co-author reviewed appeals in Miami-Dade County over a five-year period in the early 2000s. Their work found that homeowners living in majority white neighborhoods were more likely to get a reduction in their assessed home value.
Those homeowners may have more familiarity with similar programs such as tax deductions, Doerner noted. Companies helping homeowners appeal for a fee may also focus on higher-income areas.
“It tends to be that the majority white, high-income neighborhoods are the ones that are targeted the most often by these tax appeals agents,” he said. “So then they ended up getting more of the benefit.”
‘Equal right’
Officials in the King County assessor’s office emphasize that the county offers every homeowner the same notice of the appeals process, included on the back of the valuation postcard, and anyone can file an appeal. While state law only requires notices to parcels where the county adjusted the value, King County sends notices to every property every year.
“Everybody has an equal right to appeal their property value,” said Chief Deputy Assessor Al Dams.
“We always want — 100%, we want to know if we have something wrong,” Dams said. “It’s not really relevant to us how much your house is worth. It’s relevant for us that we get each property as accurate and as close as we can.”
To track accuracy, the assessor’s office focuses more on an industry standard ratio measure that compares assessed values to market values. King County has the eighth highest ratio among the state’s 39 counties, indicating a relatively close alignment between market prices and assessed values.
Most appeals are now filed through the county’s electronic appeals portal, which includes a search tool to find comparable property sales. “We’ve made it as easy as possible to appeal,” Dams said.
To make the system more equitable, Doerner recommends public representatives to help homeowners appeal their valuations, similar to public defenders or programs that help people with low incomes, older adults and others file their taxes.
King County’s independent tax advisor office offers advice for homeowners and helps identify comparable sales for those trying to appeal. Last year, the office helped 237 homeowners find comparable sales, up 39% from the prior year, said assistant tax advisor Vanthida Keovernkhone.
“The challenge is that if you leave it just to individuals to do this, they’re not going to,” Doerner said, “unless they’re from higher-income places where they have the means and the ability to do it.”