'This is outrageous.' Homeowners react to new Cuyahoga County appraisals

Agnes Gallo and her husband moved to Northeast Ohio for the American dream – a better life for themselves, their children and grandchildren.

Now that dream is getting harder to hold onto.

Last week, Gallo learned that Cuyahoga County is raising its appraisal of her house by almost $76,000. And the taxes on her home, in Parma, could go up by $950 next year.

“When I saw the number, the increase, I was shocked completely,” said Gallo, a 71-year-old Hungarian immigrant who has lived in the Cleveland area since the 1980s.

“This is outrageous,” she said. “That’s unacceptable. People can’t afford anymore to live in their own house.”

Property owners across the county just started receiving new valuation notices, part of a state-mandated process that takes place every six years. It’s the first sweeping reappraisal since the pandemic poured accelerant on an already-hot housing market.

And the results are leaving some homeowners floored, particularly in the inner-ring suburbs.

“I don’t know where they got this number,” Gallo said of the proposed value for her three-bedroom ranch, which she and her husband built in 2009. “I don’t understand.”

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To set values, the county conducts a drive-by survey of every house. Appraisers look at building permits and sales of similar homes in the neighborhood.

On average, values are up 32 percent from what’s on the books today, officials said.

Taxes aren’t jumping anywhere near as much, in most cases.

Many homeowners will see only single-digit percentage increases in their tax bills, said Michael Chambers, the county’s fiscal officer, during a recent interview. And there are cases where people’s tax bills will fall, thanks to a state law designed to level things out.

But some residents in Cleveland and its inner-ring suburbs – communities that took well over a decade to recover from the 2008 housing bust – are being particularly hard hit.

“Overall … the more affluent the neighborhood, the more steady the sales are. You don’t see the fluctuations up and down,” Chambers said during a news conference last week.

In Garfield Heights, Frank Lucas was alarmed to see his property value climb by 68 percent. His tax bill could nearly double, according to a calculator on the county’s website.

“I literally have what they call a postage stamp-sized property,” he said.

Now the 68-year-old retiree is wondering whether he’ll be able to afford repairs.

He wants to replace his bathtub with a walk-in shower, because it’s getting harder to step over the high side. And he’d hoped to upgrade his old knob-and-tube electrical wiring.

“My personal opinion on why values have fluctuated so much – it’s those damn real estate holding companies that have been buying up homes and flipping them,” he said.

He’s planning to challenge the proposed value change, from roughly $68,000 to just over $115,000.

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The county is giving homeowners an opportunity to file informal appeals through Aug. 30. Property owners can file formal complaints – kicking off a more arduous process – with the Cuyahoga County Board of Revision in January, after the new tax bills get delivered.

Gallo wants to push back. She points out that her house, with a proposed value of $283,300, has no basement. A few nearby homes – some larger, with basements and more bathrooms – have sold for lower prices than that since last fall.

But she’s worried she might not succeed. And a private appraisal could cost several hundred dollars, at a time when so many bills, for groceries, insurance and medication, have been climbing.

“Anytime the cost of something goes up, and seemingly goes up quickly, it’s scary. It’s a shock, and it takes some adjustment,” said Geoffrey Hoffman, an agent with Howard Hanna Real Estate Services in Cleveland Heights.

He’s been hearing from clients, family and friends for the last week, as people open their reappraisal letters and try to figure out what to do.

“I’m almost like a therapist sometimes for people,” he said, laughing.

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In many cases, he thinks it will be tough for homeowners to get a break.

“Most of the numbers I’m seeing on the new proposed values are, quite honestly, still underneath what the home would probably sell for if it was on the open market,” said Hoffman, noting that average sale prices have roughly doubled countywide over the last six years.

“Now there are exceptions, of course,” he added. “If the home’s in bad condition. If there’s deferred maintenance or things like that. But tax values are typically lower than real market values. And even with these increases, I’m seeing that remaining consistent.”

Still, he’s concerned about the fallout for homeowners on tight budgets. He’s also worried about renters, particularly if they’re living in single-family homes or duplexes.

“Their rent is probably gonna go up now,” said Hoffman, a small-scale landlord who rents out his former home in Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood. “That’s not because the landlord is greedy. Their cost of owning that house that the tenant lives in is now more expensive. And the money has to come from somewhere.”

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Roni Menefee hopes to leave her house in Parma to one of her children.

Now, though, she’s worried that rising real estate values – and taxes – will make that impossible. She’s facing a 49 percent valuation hike.

Her tax bill could climb 30 percent, a difference of $721 a year.

“We’re hardly living in Beverly Hills here,” said Menefee, a 44-year-old single mother.

She’s working from home and planning a move to West Virginia, to a rural area where real estate is cheaper. But she’s not ready to part with the three-bedroom Colonial that she purchased in 2012, when home prices here were near historic lows.

“I’m fighting to keep things low for a reason,” she said, adding that she plans to file an appeal with the county. “I want to be able to give my daughter a chance with real estate. … It’s important to have hope.”

County officials said they understand the sharp changes in values can be alarming. They’re planning to seek Cuyahoga County Council’s approval in the fall for a new tax-relief program for elderly homeowners, who will be eligible for cash payments to offset their bills.

Chambers said he’s also been urging state lawmakers to act on a series of proposed bills to curb tax increases for cash-strapped homeowners and, in some cases, renters.

“We’re following the rules established by the state of Ohio,” he told reporters last week. “I realize there’s some big swings. And once again, the only one that can fix this is the state of Ohio.”

Back in Parma, Gallo said she feels hopeless. She and her husband built their home with retirement and aging in mind. They expected to stay there forever.

“That was the plan,” she said. “But obviously, it’s changing.”

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Cuyahoga County reappraisal: What you need to know

• Once you receive a valuation letter, you can estimate your change in property taxes by using the calculator here .
• You can also look at nearby home sales that the county used to set the new values .
• If you want to submit an informal appeal, you must do that by Aug. 30. You can find the form and instructions here . The county expects to respond to informal appeals by early December.
• If you're appealing, you must provide at least one of the following documents: A recent appraisal. A purchase agreement and closing statement. Construction costs for a new home. Pictures of damage or repair needs, with cost estimates from contractors.
• The formal appeal process, which involves hearings in front of the Cuyahoga County Board of Revision, will run from Jan. 1 through March 31. You can learn more about that here .
• The county is planning four community meetings to talk about the valuations. They will all run from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
  
  • July 29: Saint Agnes Our Lady of Fatima, 6800 Lexington Ave., Cleveland
  • July 30: Tri-C Eastern Campus Theatre, 4250 Richmond Road, Highland Hills
  • July 31: Tri-C Western Campus Theatre, 11000 W. Pleasant Valley Road, Parma
  • Aug. 1: Urban Community School, 4909 Lorain Ave., Cleveland
• Current tax payments, covering the second half of 2023, are due on Thursday. Those bills are not impacted by the new appraisals.