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How to Reduce Property Taxes Below are some suggestion on how to go about the process of reducing property taxes.
1. Do it on your own by going to your city and following their instructions. In general, unless you are very knowledgeable about the appeal process, and negotiating comps, we don't recommend this. Most people show up unprepared with poor comparable and or inadequately debate the assessors arguments.
2. Do it yourself, with the aid of this book. Its a step by step break down of the reducing property taxes and will teach you all about comps, which ones to pick, how to make adjustments to value, going for a preliminary appeal, meeting the deadlines, preparing your argument, how to argue the case in front of the board, how to write your appeal, etc. ( I personally, Jeff Rauth of CFA, have read it and atest that its is legitimate with 222 pages, a video and forms).
3. Hire an appraisal company to put together a full blown appraisal report. This is the most authoritative opinion of your properties value and can have a huge impact on your case (though you will still want to get a better over view of the whole process, so you might still consider the above book). On residential properties this should cost around $300. A commercial appraisal will cost roughly $3,000. You can often hire them to go to the actual meetings with you or for you, for an additional fee. Which maybe a little over kill, depending on the complexity of you appeal.
4. Hire us, and our professional appraisers/tax consultants, to research, gather and select the best comps for you. We than take these comps and put them in a booklet and present why you deserve a tax reduction (assuming that you do). With this custom booklet created by industry professionals, you can confidently take this to the appeal board knowing you have the evidence you need to win your appeal. Click Here real estate comps.
We also, have another level of this for those that want to have a professional do all of the work. It is virtually a full appraisal, complete with a compelling argument on why you're overassessed. The only thing we don't do is sit in front of your city for you.
5. Hire a full blown property tax consultant and or property tax lawyer. The good thing here is that most of these professional do not charge any upfront fees and work on an contingincy basis. They get paid around 50% of the first years annual savings. You will have the best chance of success with an experienced professional tax consultant/lawyer. Most however will want project sizes in excess of $500,000.
If you are more geared towards number four, than fill out the tax appeal form here. We'll be happy to discuss your potential case to make sure you're doing everything in your power to reduce your property taxes.
Click here to see if you have a case.
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