Guide to Property Assessors Offices - Rhode Island

Property assessors' offices in Rhode Island can be an investor's best friend
By Kelly Shetsky

Property assessors' offices in Rhode Island are usually broken down by county, where each county has an auditor's office who handles the assessment of property. While manpower may prevent them from assessing homes and lots on an annual basis, property value in Rhode Island is examined fairly regularly.

Rhode Island property assessments will cause your property taxes to go up or down depending on the true market value placed on your property. If you've improved your investment property, expect the value to increase. Familiarize yourself with Rhode Island property assessment because the records allow you to:

1. Research potential investment properties using Rhode Island property assessments.

2. Track property market trends by checking out the rise and fall of RI property taxes.

3. Compare Rhode Island property values with comparable properties to see if the assessment is fair.

Action Steps

The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Know how Rhode Island property assessors operate It pays to be a knowledgeable investor. If you don't understand Rhode Island property assessments, you won't know if the assessment on your land or building is fair. Rhode Island has 5 tax rates which range from 3.75% to 9.9%. The municipal assessor and collector, and not the state, handles property assessment in Rhode Island.

I recommend: Bankrate.com explains how property assessments for Rhode Island are completed. Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation (RIEDC) lists all the property tax rates for Rhode Island municipalities.

Use online records and tools to obtain Rhode Island property assessments Property assessors in Rhode Island make it a whole lot easier to search through records because most post them in online databases. Rhode Island property values are public record and there are a number of free county databases, along with those you can subscribe to.

I recommend: DirectPass, Searchsystems.net’s online database, allows you to get information from property assessors in Rhode Island. It costs about $5 per month and is categorized by municipality. Skipease lists information about property assessments in Rhode Island as well as specific links to property assessors' offices - Rhode Island.

Determine your taxes based on similar Rhode Island property values If you're buying an investment property that's similar to 4 others on the street, it's safe to assume that Rhode Island property assessors will assess your property at an amount close to what your neighbors will pay. Unless there are vast discrepancies in the condition, age or size of the building or lot, your taxes will be similar to your neighbors.

I recommend: Get property tax information in Providence, RI, Warwick, RI, and North Kingstown, RI by simply typing in your neighbor's address or the address of an investment property in the Providence, RI: Assessor Database, City of Warwick Assessor’s Office tool and Vision Appraisal's database for North Kingstown, RI.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

If you're selling your property, get a realtor who knows land values and has worked with investors in the past. The amount assigned to you by the property assessors' offices in Rhode Island is not necessarily what you'll get for the property if you decided to sell.
Tax assessors in Rhode Island do much more than provide tax records. They give the average investor with a wealth of information including ownership changes, up-to-date maps of property lines and property descriptions. In addition, they analyze trends in property sales prices, the costs of constructing a new property and the average expense for renting property as well.