Yes

Just tell them every day that they are going to come, you're not going to be home. They can't force themselves into your house.

Granted, they will still do the assessment, just making a guess of what's inside, which might be worse than just letting them in.

Yes, but they'll probably assign it a higher value than what it's worth.

I assure you, nothing could be worse than what’s actually inside…just kidding

Yes - they'll estimate what they can't inspect/review.

Yes, you can tell them to pound sand. It'll just make it harder to successfully appeal your assessment if you don't like it. Nashua just wrapped up a three year "list a nd measure" reassessment and a significant fraction of homeowners refused entry.

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If you don’t have anything to hide, it may be easier to let them in, attend the walk-thru, and tell them what the backstories are on the contents

They showed up when I wasn’t home and they just assessed it based off of what they could see.

Yes, but they will then assess the property from the sidewalk and all their estimates will be high.

Your problem will come if you disagree with the final assessment at which time you will have to provide some evidence of the property's value, like an appraisal. The city/town gets to make their appraisal and the appeals board is not going to yours much weight if you don't allow access. The Assessor/appraiser is not interested in making life hard on you. With, for all practical purposes, no sales or personal income tax, communities are heavily dependent on the property tax. Most try hard to levy that tax as fairly as possible. If you don't like the system, work to change it or maybe live somewhere else.

Nobody is required to let an assessor into their home, though you'll probably want to. New Hampshire municipalities are required by statute to levy taxes proportionally on real estate. Most, if not all, towns hire assessing firms for this purpose.

An appraiser has the authority to: Enter private land for appraisal purposes unless the owner or lawful occupant of that property objects to the appraiser's entry. The owner's objection could be expressed orally, in writing, or by conspicuous placement of “no trespassing” signs on the property.

I also received such a letter. Some years ago I did have a walk through when a person showed up. Next time I might ask or insist he make an appointment. Otherwise just do it. I was friendly and learned quite a bit which may save me some money this time around. They are only interested in a quick walk through.

Some creepy dude was walking around my neighborhood demanding to come in and inspect houses a few years ago, saying he was with the assessor. I asked him for ID, he wouldn't give it, and I told him to blow. He came back two more times, I told him to get a warrant or whatever. He quit after that.

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Have to let them on the property but you do not have to let them in

Just out of curiosity, what did you learn that might save you money?

Curious what town. My town has had some weird activity on the Facebook page with people showing up at their house saying they are an inspector/assessor.

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In another lifetime I used to do this exact job. It’s a very small world and I likely know, professionally if not personally, the person who would be doing this appraisal. Some thoughts, in no particular order:

If you don’t let them in they assume. They often over-assume because it’s easier. If you then object to your new appraisal (and you likely will) you’re now back at square one but you’ve wasted their time so it’ll be more…fraught

Most ppl are dicks to them. It is an incredibly stressful job. Everyone wants nice schools but no one wants to pay the property tax to get them. If you’re nice, it will go a LONG LONG way.

Go to your town’s property tax/assessor’s database. (Likely will be vision or avatar based). Read over your property tax card and make sure it’s right. It says your basement is finished but it’s not finished? It says your attic is not finished but it is? Etc. Decide from there what you want to do.

If you have any specific questions feel free to dm me

for what it's worth - live in a small town in SW NH, we had our 5 year re-evaluations earlier this year. we moved in to an overpriced house with lots of delayed maintenance (all of which we knew and accepted, because moving here was nearly impossible otherwise) so when they gave me a 2x valuation hike, I was ALL about having them come in and walk through the house so I could show them all the broken things and structural stuff we need to do.

It worked - they knocked off about $150k off the valuation hike, and subsequently our taxes just got lowered for the next 5 years. pretty happy about that.

next time around though, because I will be fixing all that stuff, you better believe I won't let them inside :)

Side note: many people want high property valuations but not the taxes to pay for the nice schools that got them those nice high valuations.

you shouldn't be downvoted for being factually accurate, but everyone else had a value-add comment.

You know, if you have no idea how things work it’s just better to keep your mouth shut.

Yeah that's reddit for you. Don't give me an update but certainly down voted don't make sense.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're probably the first person to attempt this charade, and the next assessor will have no choice but to assume your house is still dilapidated?

I did the same thing once. They initially just drove by and the outside of our place looks great, but it’s a cheaply made house with a lot of little issues. I brought them in and they knocked down the assessment.

Isn’t that kind of a separate thing? A tax assessment versus home appraisal/comps?

They all lead to the same complaint. Don’t want to pay for all the benefits received

Generally they're looking at a subset of homes and using the data to adjust the tax rate across the board.

The exception is if you've made changes that would effect the value if your home relative to other homes in the community. Like finished off a basement or something.

When I bought my house in NH we did an appraisal the first year we moved in. The appraiser asked to come in and I let him. He had our whole basement as finished and we have an unfinished storage room. Knocked off some of the livable sq footage and saved some on my taxes. You don’t have to let them in if you don’t want but like someone else said, they will assume.

Not really in New Hampshire (but yes in many other states). NH state law says that towns and cities must base the tax assessment no less often than every 5 years upon 90% to 110% of market value, and market value is what comps and appraisals use.

They're reassessing in my town this year as well. I refused to let them in. I lived in Massachusetts too long to voluntarily let agents of the government into my house without a warrant. We'll see what happens with the valuation.

“This is my… chemistry set. I use it for… educational purposes…”

Okay, very different from Vermont. Assessments aren't done so often.

> Yeah that's reddit for you. Don't give me an update but certainly down voted don't make sense.

You can post objective facts with citations (such as the correct spelling of a word) and still be downvoted. Good thing it's just internet points and not something actually important.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Don’t let those tax vampires in

Very Trumpish.

I DM’d you. Thanks!

It is Trumpish for people to think that way. I happily pay my taxes without complaint.

Present one way to appraisers, another to assessors. Max value, lowest taxes.

The view tax is an issue for me. I live on a hill and what was once a magnificent view has greatly decreased. Trees do grow and I go back 55 years. My mom lived here before me. I have been removing trees for many years now and it is about to have some impact on the view. What I learned in part is that they consider the view as a matter of degrees. A narrow view is a tunnel, then 10 to 30%, 30 to 60, etc. I have left some trees up and have removed quite a few which will not be noticed yet as you don't yet see this area from the house. i have been also concentrating on the area that is most open but have deepened it rather than widening it. Will it help? Damned if I know but I have a plan, a goal, and shortly the view will widen, my taxes will go up, maybe quite a bit, but hopefully not this time.

I'm pretty sure this routine is standard practice for many :)

but yeah, the whole thing people have told me was basically don't let them in once you have marked your tax assessment and then do significant interior updates. I feel like NH has many, many people who play this same game.