How to Look Up Your San Francisco Assessed Value and Property Record

Before you argue about what your San Francisco property is worth, find out what the Assessor thinks it is. The physical record — square footage, bedroom count, condition — is where the most winnable appeals hide, because a factual error doesn't require anyone to weigh opinions.

Where to look

Your Notice of Assessed Value, mailed in July, and your secured tax bill, mailed in October. Between them you get your assessed value split into land and improvements, your APN (Assessor's Parcel Number), the assessment type, and any exemptions applied.

Online, three sources serve different purposes:

• The Office of the Assessor-Recorder (sf.gov) — assessed values, the property record, exemption status, and the portal for informal review and exemption claims.
• The Treasurer & Tax Collector (sftreasurer.org) — your bill, payment status, installment amounts, and any penalties. Searchable by address or APN.
• The SF Property Information Map (run by Planning) — zoning, permit history, building records, and complaints. This is where you check what work was permitted, which matters both for your appeal and for knowing what an appeal might surface.

If you can't find your parcel, you likely have the APN slightly wrong — condos and TICs are the usual culprits, since a unit's APN may differ from the building's.

What to write down

Item	Why it matters
APN	Required on the appeal application; a wrong one gets it bounced
Assessed value (land + improvements)	The number you're appealing
Assessment type	Regular, supplemental, or escape — determines your deadline
Homeowners' exemption applied?	The §167 burden-of-proof qualifier
Base year value and date	Tells you whether a base year appeal is still open
Square footage, beds, baths, year built, lot size	The facts to audit

The audit — this is the valuable part

Compare the Assessor's record against your actual property, line by line. You're looking for anything that overstates it:

• Square footage that's too high. The most common and most persuasive error. Measure, or use your appraisal or architect's drawings. Note that assessors and MLS listings often measure differently, so bring a documented basis, not a listing printout.
• Bedroom or bathroom count that's too high — a den counted as a bedroom, a half bath counted as full.
• Lot size that doesn't match your deed or survey.
• Improvements that don't exist — a garage, deck, or unit still on the record after removal, or a permitted remodel recorded as complete when it was abandoned.
• Condition or quality grade that doesn't reflect reality. Deferred maintenance, foundation or drainage problems, an unfinished remodel, knob-and-tube wiring, a failed sewer lateral. Document with photos, inspection reports, and contractor bids.
• View or exposure recorded generously — a "view" that a neighboring building eliminated.

A documented factual error is stronger evidence than any comparable-sales argument, because it doesn't ask the board to prefer your opinion to the Assessor's. It asks them to correct a fact.

Look for errors that cut the other way, too

An appeal is a request that the Assessor re-examine your property. So check whether the record understates it: unpermitted square footage, a converted garage or in-law unit not on file, a major remodel never captured.

If so, weigh carefully. The board isn't bound by either side's number and can increase a value. Better to know before you invite the look than to discover it at a hearing. (The realistic risks of filing.)

You can ask the Assessor directly

You're entitled to ask how your value was determined, and the office will generally share the basis — including the comparable sales they relied on. Do this before the hearing. Knowing which sales the Assessor used tells you exactly what you need to rebut, and sometimes reveals they used comps that are barred under §402.5 or aren't genuinely comparable. (The 90-day comp rule.)

Then compare value

Once the physical record is verified, the question becomes whether the assessed value exceeds market value as of the January 1 lien date. That requires arms-length sales of genuinely comparable properties within the usable window — not an automated estimate, which appeals boards don't accept. (Choosing comps that hold up.)

CompFinder does this part for San Francisco: enter the address and get screened comparable sales near the lien date with the written comparison an appeal needs.

The order of operations

1. Pull the record and note your APN, assessed value, and assessment type.
2. Confirm the homeowners' exemption is applied. (Why it matters.)
3. Audit every physical characteristic — both directions.
4. Ask the Assessor for the basis of the valuation.
5. Build comparable sales near January 1.
6. File by September 15 if the gap is real. (Step-by-step.)