Bernalillo County Property Taxes

We had an email exchange with some people regarding a question about property taxes in ABQ. As some of you may have noticed, if you have bought a house in the last couple of years, your taxes probably (undoubtedly) went way up for no apparent reason. Well here is our response to the question sent to us, and what you can do about this problem.

Their Question?

"I don't know if this applies in the Albuquerque Metro area or not (South to Belen, the East Mtns, Bernalillo, Corrales, RR or Albuquerque proper). Do the property taxes vary between these areas? And are there site(s) online where you can put in an address and get an estimation of your property tax liability for buyers looking at various neighborhoods/cities?

(Out in California (where I live today) the taxes can vary dramatically depending on location, that is why I am asking this question)"

Our Response:

"Everything said here is correct (somebody else had already chimmed in here). It is going to be different from neighborhood to neighborhood. In fact, it is often way different from neighbor to neighbor now due to an idiotic tax law that was passed by our state (primarily Ben Lujan in 2001). The summary of this is...we used to be a non-disclosure state. We are now not full disclosure, but we have to certainly disclose more. One of those things is the value of a house when you purchase it.
The problem is they are unfairly hiking people's property taxes after they purchase a home. It is a huge ordeal that is now being fought at the State Legislature. I have clients where their taxes went from $2,500 to $5,000; they doubled. Yet their neighbors are grandfathered in because they already owned the house before the law passed. I can tell you from personal experience with clients that people have gone into foreclosure over this because they cannot afford the increased payment. And I had one client completely back out of a purchase because the taxes had just gone up from when the house was listed to when it was under contract (they learned it half way through the transaction).
If you or somebody you know is negatively affected by this you need to call State Representative Mark Bointano at 505-299-6275. He is spearheading this fight.
Lastly, regarding a website to visit for property tax info, click here and you will be taken to the Bernalillo County site where you can look up tax info on any home by address in Bernalillo County."