Well, when I moved into my condo it had a five-year abatement on it which has long since expired.

It worked like this - after multiplying the price I bought it for by the equalization ratio, giving you the assessed value, they subtracted $ 25,000 from that number and then taxed that value. It was nice while it lasted, and I was earning a lot less then so it helped, but we're not talking about any great savings, a couple thousand a year I guess (don't really remember) which worked out to a few hundred dollars on each quarterly tax payment.

Are tax abatements only given to developers or can private citizens get them?

If your not developing a condo complex or something but just a home to live in can you get any kind of abatement?