Not every municipality assesses property the same way. Before you start appealing your taxes, figure out how your area assesses property. Some base it strictly on market value, others base it on home and land value. Some places subtract some value for depreciation. Another common way to assess value is to use recent sales of comparable home in the area. Contact the local assessor's office and request to view or receive a copy of your property tax assessment card. This card sometimes is a physical copy you can pick up, while other counties provide them online. When you receive it, study the details very carefully. Make sure to request your property tax assessment before you tax bill comes. There are certain deadlines you will have to meet for filing your appeals. Once you receive your tax assessment, you may only have 30-120 days to appeal. If you wait until your tax bill comes, it may be too late. Check to see if the assessor made mistakes about the structure of your home. Did he make an error in square footage? Did he say you had 4 bedrooms when you only have 3? Make sure any special features of your home are correct, along with the acreage. Only heated, livable areas should be counted in the square footage of your home. Errors about the structural specifications of your home can lead to significant reductions in your taxes. Determine if there are factors causing your property assessment to be inflated. Was your appraisal conducted when market values were higher than present values? Find out if the property value in your neighborhood has gone down recently. That could lower your taxes. If you have recently purchased the house, think about the price paid. If the price you paid for the house is lower than the assessed value, you might be able to lower your property taxes. Don't just look for errors; look for things the assessor left out. This relates mostly to negative aspects of your home that could help diminish the value. Does the property record card report a backyard that always floods, a wet basement, a leaky roof, or cracked walls? Having a detailed property assessment that includes both positive and negative qualities may help you lower your taxes. Other things that might lower your value are air conditioning systems that need repair, foundations that need repair, or leaky plumbing. When you request your property card, also look at property cards of similar houses in your neighborhood. Compare their assessment values to your own. If your assessment is much higher than similar homes in your neighborhood, you might have a basis for lowering your property taxes. The more examples and the more homes you can use with lower assessment values, the stronger your case for appeal will be. When deciding what is a comparable home, look at ones with similar square footage, the same number of bedrooms and bathrooms, and a similar age. Try to look at houses that are as close to yours as possible for an accurate comparison. Is the construction on your home lower quality than others? Do you have a frame house instead of a brick house? These factors can influence your assessment. Also look at homes in your neighborhood that are larger, more expensive, or in better shape. See if your comparison is lower than theirs. If those homes have the same assessment value as yours, your value may be inflated. Sometimes, assessors can make mistakes. Look at the homes your house is compared to. Are they similar? Or are they nicer, in better shape, in a better neighborhood, on a quieter street? Using homes that are not similar to yours in just about every way can inflate your home's assessment.

Summary: Determine how your area assesses homes. Study your property tax assessment. Look for structural errors on the assessment. Decide if the assessment value is inflated. Look for holes in the property record. Compare your home to others in your neighborhood. Make sure your home was compared to similar homes.

After stirring every 12 hours for the first 2 days, your work is done! Leave the main ferment alone for 12 days and allow it to work its magic on the contents of the stockpot.

Summary: Leave the main ferment alone for 12 days.

According to the Internal Revenue Service, a FMV is an estimate of the sales amount that a private seller and buyer would agree to for a vehicle. In contrast, a trade-in value is what a dealership would offer. It's also important to note that the FMV is calculated based on the actions of willing buyers/sellers, not ones under duress. Trade-in values for used cars are also often altered by dealers to boost vehicle sales. An FMV estimate is more consistent. If you are looking up an estimate for someone else or if you are researching an older vehicle, you may not know every detail requested by the website. That's okay. Enter in a number of years or a series of options to create a workable value range. For example, if you know that the car was made in the late 1990s, enter in 1996, 1997, 1998, and, 1999. Note how the values differ with each year. Look at the automobile listings in your local newspaper. Or, go to a used auto sales website such as www.autotrader.com, enter in your zipcode, and search for similar cars in your area. Make note of the asking prices for cars that are similar to your own. For example, if you are selling a 1999 Mustang and see a 2000 model in your local paper, note the price. It's probably a bit higher than your car's FMV, but may be pretty close to it.
Summary: Recognize that FMV is different than trade-in value. Enter in reasonable comparison details if you don't know the exact information. Compare your car to others currently for sale.