A recent arms-length purchase price of the subject property is the single strongest piece of evidence in a residential property tax appeal across all 5 launch states. If you bought your home recently for less than the assessor's implied market value, that closing statement is typically dispositive.
This guide covers when and how to use a recent purchase price as the foundation of your appeal.
Decision bodies (BoR, ARB, AAB, CBT, BAR/SCAR) treat an arms-length sale as the gold-standard evidence of market value because:
Across our 5 launch states, the procedural pattern is consistent: a recent arms-length purchase of the subject within ~12 months of the assessment date is presumptive evidence of market value.
| State | Lien date / assessment date | Recent purchase window for strongest evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Texas | January 1 | Within 12 months of January 1 |
| California | January 1 | Within 12 months — and CA Prop 13 makes it determinative for new base year value |
| Illinois | January 1 | Within 12 months of the assessment date |
| New Jersey | October 1 of pretax year | Within 12 months of October 1 |
| New York | Variable (typically March 1) | Within 12 months of the locality's taxable status date |
| Florida | January 1 (FL Stat. §192.042) | 12 months pre Jan 1 strongest. Save Our Homes-protected homesteads complicate this — the bill follows the SOH-capped assessed value, so a low purchase price may not translate to bill reduction. |
| Massachusetts | January 1 (Mass. Gen. Laws Ch. 59 §38) | 12 months pre Jan 1; ATB precedent treats arms-length sale price as strong evidence of fair cash value. Recent purchase well-documented in deed records. |
| Connecticut | October 1 of revaluation year (Conn. Gen. Stat. §12-62a) | 12 months around Oct 1 reval date. Mid-cycle purchases factor into the next reval but don't trigger immediate reassessment. §12-119 (1-year wrongful-assessment) provides a fail-safe. |
| Pennsylvania | County-set base year (Allegheny 2012, Philadelphia annual, others vary) | Applicability depends on county. Counties on stale base years (Allegheny 2012, Lancaster pre-2024) heavily discount recent sales. Philadelphia's annual updates make recent sales more probative. |
| Ohio | January 1 of sexennial reval / triennial update year (ORC 5713.03) | 6-12 months pre Jan 1 strongest; arms-length sales heavily weighted. HB 126 (2022) restricted school-district upside complaints based on recent purchase price (now requires both >10% gap AND >$500K absolute gap). |
| Georgia | January 1 (O.C.G.A. §48-5-3) | 12 months pre Jan 1 strongest; arms-length recent purchase usually treated as best evidence of FMV at BOE. HB 92 (2024) eliminated automatic freeze, so timing of appeal matters. |
| North Carolina | January 1 of county's reappraisal year (4-8 yr cycle, G.S. 105-286) | Purchase within ~12 months of the reval date is useful evidence at the BoER but not dispositive at PTC — counties may still apply the Schedule of Values mass-appraisal value if the sale appears distressed or non-arms-length. Note: NC does NOT trigger reassessment on change of ownership (unlike CA Prop 13). |
| Virginia | Locality-set (typically January 1) | Purchase within ~12 months of the assessment date is useful evidence at the BOE but not dispositive at Circuit Court — §58.1-3984 USPAP-compliance requirement means courts may require a licensed appraiser's reconciled opinion of value rather than the bare purchase price. Note: VA does NOT trigger reassessment on change of ownership (unlike CA Prop 13). |
| Michigan | December 31 (tax day) of the prior calendar year | Recent purchase price within ~12 months of Dec 31 is typically strong evidence at March BoR. Critically: in Michigan, the purchase uncaps your taxable value to the SEV in the calendar year following purchase (Proposal A pop-up under MCL 211.27a) — so disputing the SEV directly affects the bill year-over-year. UNLESS the transfer fits an exempt category under MCL 211.27a(7), in which case the appeal target is preventing the uncap entirely. |
Sales beyond 12 months are increasingly discounted. Sales beyond 18-24 months typically lose presumptive weight unless market conditions justify reliance.
A sale doesn't get full weight if it wasn't arms-length:
If your purchase was an arms-length transaction (not in any category above), it's strong evidence. If it falls into a distressed category, it's probably not the foundation of your appeal — pull comps instead.
For your purchase price to be persuasive, document:
Bring originals or certified copies; many decision bodies require original signatures.
A recent purchase price is dispositive in most Texas ARB hearings for residential properties. Bring your Closing Disclosure to the informal CAD review — many cases settle at this stage with the appraised value adjusted to your purchase price (or close to it). The 10% Homestead Cap then applies on subsequent years.
Under Prop 13, a change of ownership triggers a new base year value. Your purchase price IS the new base year value (under §50). If the supplemental assessment after your purchase exceeds your actual purchase price, file a supplemental assessment appeal within 60 days of notice — bring the closing statement.
For decline-in-value (Prop 8) appeals where you bought near a market peak that has since fallen, the purchase price establishes the upper bound; current comps establish the lower bound (current market value).
A recent arms-length purchase within 12 months of the January 1 assessment date is the strongest single piece of evidence at IL BoR and PTAB. The DuPage BoR Rule 9 specifically lists "Recent sale of the subject property within 12 months of the assessment date" as preferred evidence.
NJ Tax Court precedent treats recent arms-length sales as nearly dispositive. The CBT (or Tax Court for >$1M direct filings) typically adjusts the assessment to reflect the purchase price unless the assessor presents compelling evidence of a different market value.
Recent purchase price is similarly weighted at NY BAR/SCAR/Article 7 venues. The February 2026 SCAR appellate ruling (Village of Great Neck Estates) further broadened admissible homeowner-prepared evidence — including statistical evidence supporting the recent-sale-as-market-value framing.
The Property Tax Desk Editorial Team