ORANGE COUNTY IN BANKRUPTCY : Appraisal Firms Making Mass Appeal to Homeowners : Taxes: Mailed flyers entice residents with offers to fight short-staffed O.C. and win lower assessments.

Orange County homeowners have been finding flyers in the mail enticing them to take advantage of declines in their home values by petitioning to have their property taxes lowered.

Many of the offers come from appraisers who, faced with a decline in their traditional sources of business with slowing of home sales and the refinancing market, are offering to represent taxpayers in appeals.

Dozens of individual appraisers and large firms specializing in homeowner cases have added thousands of tax appeals to the backlog that is overwhelming the Orange County tax assessor’s office.

At the same time, county Assessor Bradley L. Jacobs contends that staff cuts forced by Orange County’s bankruptcy have made it impossible to keep up with the increased workload.

Some critics of this burgeoning consumer-targeted industry contend that homeowners could gain the same tax savings at no cost by tackling appeals on their own.

But Carmen Guido, owner of Property Assessment Adjusters, a San Diego-based firm specializing in representing homeowners, said he believes homeowners are benefiting from companies such as his that are dedicated to helping them get a tax break.

“Orange County still faces cutbacks by the Board of Supervisors and increased appeals and it is not a pretty situation,” Guido said. “But there is no reason a homeowner should pay taxes on a value that isn’t there anymore. . . .

“It should never be lost sight of that the people are the government. It is their money.”

Nonetheless, Paul Christiansen, a real estate broker and former Laguna Niguel city councilman, called the emerging new industry a “racket.”

Christiansen said instead of paying fees of $45 to $300 to an agent, a homeowner can easily put together a persuasive case to present to the county assessor by gathering information about the sales prices of similar homes in the neighborhood.

Such data, Christiansen said, can be obtained at no cost from title insurance companies.

There is also a good chance that the county assessor would lower the value of properties on the tax roll without any intervention by the homeowner, said Chris Sonne, a member of the Southern California chapter of the Appraisal Institute, a professional association of appraisers.

Sonne warned that companies handling large numbers of homeowner appeals might low-ball property value estimates with the hope of avoiding challenges and reap profits through a high volume of business.

“I think it is a bad practice for all parties,” Sonne said. “The consumers may not get what they deserve.”

“Many appraisers are looking for work because the market is real slow,” said Walter Langford, spokesman for the State Office of Real Estate Appraisers, which licenses appraisers who work for banks, savings and loans and credit unions.

Langford said he is most concerned about appraisers who offer services for a fee based on the percentage of taxes saved.

“They would have a vested interest in getting it [the assessment] as low as possible,” he said. For licensed appraisers, he said, the practice is unethical and violates state and federal laws because it undermines their objectivity.

Langford said he would urge homeowners to check whether the appraisers they hire are licensed, which guarantees that they meet state competency requirements.

He strongly disagreed that this job can be easily tackled by a novice. “We filed close to 5,000 appeals last year in Orange County, and the assessor’s office called us on almost every one” to justify value estimates, he said.

Guido said his company is careful to send solicitations only to owners of properties most likely to be eligible for reassessment--in part because the company promises to refund its $65 fee if the property assessment is not lowered.

Moreover, he contends that county assessor offices also benefit.

“We know the counties have a lot of work, but they have told us they would much rather deal with one agent like my company than with each of the thousands of individuals that we represent,” he said.