Once I'd appealed my assessment, I kept pulling the thread. Appealing a bad number is the biggest lever, but it's not the only one. The rest of what I found worth doing:
- Appeal when the number's wrong — every year it's wrong. This isn't one-and-done. A new assessment comes each year; check it each year.
- Claim exemptions if you qualify. Income-qualified seniors (61+) and disabled homeowners can exempt part of their value and freeze their assessment — often saving well over a thousand dollars a year. Don't leave that on the table.
- Look at the deferral program. Qualifying seniors and limited-income owners can defer taxes as a low-interest loan repaid when the home sells. Cash-poor, house-rich, and want to age in place? Worth a look.
- Watch your escrow. If your lender pays taxes from escrow, review the annual analysis and confirm the county bill matches. Errors happen; catch them.
- Budget for it going up. Plan for roughly 5–7% annual growth in a normal market. Rising taxes shouldn't be the surprise they were for me.
- Factor taxes into where you buy. Rates vary meaningfully across King County cities — enough to matter over the years you'll own.
None of this is glamorous. But the whole thing rests on one number the county mostly guessed, and you're allowed to make them show their work. I did. Whatever the Board decides, I'd rather have made the case than quietly written the bigger check.
If you haven't yet: start with the story of how I got here, or go straight to how to appeal.