This week I discuss in a interview with Melissa Dehncke Mcgill from the Real Deal on the forclosure frenzy in New York. Please have a look.

New York - Homeowners across the country are challenging their property tax bills in droves as the value of their homes drop, threatening local governments with another big drain on their budgets.

The requests are coming in record numbers, from owners of $10 million estates and one-bedroom bungalows, from residents of the high-tax enclaves surrounding New York City, and from taxpayers in the Rust Belt and states like Arizona, Florida and California, where whole towns have been devastated by the housing bust. Click here to read the full article from the New York Times.

This week I’m featured in a Real Deal webcast on the sale of distressed properties. Please have a look:

Sam Heskel on Real Deal Webcast

… In this week’s Webcast, appraiser Sam Heskel of HMS Associates also tells The Real Deal’s Jill Gardiner that investors are beginning to look …

If your property value goes down, doesn’t that mean your tax bill should too? The answer is yes – but you need to file an appeal to find out. The deadline to file an appeal is March 2 in New York City and April 1 in New Jersey.

This year has been unique because property values have been in sharp decline. Your tax bill, as you know, is based on your property tax assessment, but tax assessments do not keep pace with changing markets, especially when the market changes as rapidly as it has in the past few months. Current assessments are most likely based on property valuations made a long time ago, when prices were higher. Chances are, you have not heard from your municipality about this. If so, check immediately to see how your home has been assessed and what your taxes will be for 2009. If your taxes seem out of line, you can file an appeal.

The appeal will require you to enter what you believe to be the true value of your home. While you can do research and make your best guess at this, the best way to determine this value is to have a professional appraisal conducted. The value you enter on your appeal will be used as the basis for your appeal, so it’s best to have a professional appraisal that will stand up to professional review by your municipality.

Please contact me if you are interested in learning more or would like to schedule an appraisal. For more information about the appraisal process in New York City and New Jersey, or for information on other municipalities you can visit our website. or contact us by phone at 1-866-467-5100.

Here’s something to consider. We are all hearing the bleak news about property values declining. Here’s a tip of on making the most of the situation. 

File for a tax assessment appeal. What does that mean? Let me explain: Tax assessments are calculated from property values that may have been recorded some time ago, when it is possible property values were considerably higher depending on the property and when it was assessed. The lag between the current market value and the value at the time of assessment could mean a higher tax burden than is warranted. A tax appeal can remedy the situation, and a professional appraisal could determine whether an appeal is warranted.

The deadline for filing an appeal with the Tax Commission in New York City is March 1st and requires the applicant to indicate how much he/she thinks the property is currently worth. Media reports indicate dramatic increases in the number of tax appeals being filed in municipalities across the country. check back to my site. I will be adding links for various counties in the metro NY area with information on how to appeal process works in their counties.

In partial interest ownership of real property, determining minority discounts is an important matter for the purposes of estate planning, real estate taxes, the re-sale process or any other transfer of the property in question. Minority discounts vary greatly depending on numerous factors, and must stand up under great scrutiny, making the process all the more crucial. This article prepared by by myself together with Gerald H. Morganstern exclusively for the NY Law Journal provides an overview of minority discounts and describes the commonly applied technique used in determining minority discounts. Click here to see the full  article.

So the big day is now behind us and we can begin to move ahead to the task at hand… actually confronting the many problems facing this nation and the world.  So we need to return to our focus on the local scene and the New York Real Estate market.

There actually is some good news but it very much favors the buyers and that is that the experts are coming out and saying now is the time to purchase.  An article in Forbes calls our times “unprecedented” with price declines like we’ve never seen before.  The article probes the opinions of four experts and they all pretty much voice a common view that now is the time to buy.

The problem of course is that unless you are independently wealthy, securing financing is a real challenge.  For all the obvious reasons, mortgage bankers are not willing to make the mistakes of the past. It’s a nice long piece that has the experts battling out what they think are the best moves at the moment but the bottom line is they say if you’re in a position to do so, there’s never been a better time to buy, buy, buy (real estate that is) than now.  I’d welcome your comments on this.

On the very local level, Reuters is reporting that landlords in the commercial markets are slashing prices.  The exception is the high traffic areas in mid-town where we are going to have to wait until after the holiday period to see how consumer sales go.

Our local markets are also finding the need to find innovative ways to woo international investors as reported in the International Herald Tribune. Property owners are making aggressive efforts to market themselves to Russian and Eastern European oligarchs including advertisements in their native tongues.  If successful, combined with the low prices, we’re likely to see an even more international flavor than in the past in the local ownership scene.