Got our postcard? Here is what the numbers mean.

Each line on the card

You paid

The price on the RP-5217 real property transfer report filed with the county when you bought. The State publishes these sales.

Worth today

Your purchase price brought forward to today at the rate local home prices have been rising. For Syracuse I used 9.35% a year, the average yearly rise in the city's median one-to-three-family sale price from 2022 to 2025. That rate is deliberately on the high side: it makes your home's value larger, which makes any claim of over-assessment smaller.

Taxed as if worth

Your assessment divided by the residential assessment ratio the State publishes for your city or town — the share of full value at which homes there are assessed. For Syracuse that ratio is 47.97% (rate year 2025, the latest published). If your assessment is $150,000, the city is treating your house as though it were worth $150,000 ÷ 0.4797 = about $312,700.

Over-valued by

The gap between what the assessment implies your house is worth and what it is actually worth today. Using the example above with a home worth $210,000 today: $312,700 − $210,000 = about $102,700.

The assessment cut

What the assessment would be if your home were assessed at the same share of its value as everyone else's: $210,000 × 0.4797 = about $100,700. From $150,000, that is a reduction of about $49,300 in assessed value — the figure a grievance would ask for.

These are estimates from public records, not a promise of any result. The assessment board and a hearing officer decide the outcome.

Check your own numbers

Where is the property? County Choose your county City, town or village Choose a county first Rate year Choose a municipality first

Use the rate year that matches the assessment roll you are grieving. The newest is chosen for you.

Residential assessment ratio (%)

Choose your municipality and the State's current figure is looked up for you. You can also type one in.

Your current assessment ($)

On your tax bill or your town's assessment roll.

What your home is worth ($)

Your recent purchase price, or a recent appraisal.

Check my assessment

Your numbers stay on this page and are never sent anywhere. Choosing a municipality asks New York State's open-data site for that municipality's current ratio; the ratios come from the NYS Department of Taxation and Finance.

Why did I get a card?

I compared recent home sales with the assessment roll, using only public records. I mailed owners whose assessment, measured against what they paid, sits well above the level the State reports for the rest of the city — on conservative numbers, and only for owner-occupied one-, two- and three-family homes.

What to do next

Call 315-876-2262 or email info@thepropertytaxguy.com. The first conversation is free. In Syracuse, grievances are accepted only during the last two weeks of January, so the time to start is well before then.

Prefer not to receive mail from me? Call or email and I will remove your address.