The other day I got an email from someone living in Florida asking if they could make a living in the property tax appeal consulting business. I geared up later that day drinking what might be an excess amount of coffee for a late night reply that would cover both the residential and commercial property tax appeals market.
I wrote back most the following about property tax consulting:
Every state has a specific time window when property tax appeal can be filed. Generally about 2 months; some states more, some less
When an appeal is won, the settlement goes into effect at the time new assessments become available to the public. An assessment change notice is delivered normally called the Annual Assessment Date.
Legally, the local Property Tax Assessor has full control whether to grant a reduction in property tax assessments according to the evidence presented. In this area he/she has the power of a judge. Interestingly, off season the town property tax assessor is not busy and very approachable.
When one books an appointment one needs to have gathered all the comparable evidence that makes their case conclusive. One should provide documented evidence as backup for your reduced valuation conclusion.
It’s good to keep friendly relations with the tax assessor since one can re-appeal their case as often as is necessary with new evidence any time during the year and win. That case can be a residential or commercial property tax appeal consulting business.
Within the territory you’re working, if the tax assessor is a reasonable person, you should be able to negotiate a reduction for the assessment providing you have good supporting evidence.
The only rub is one has to wait till the Annual Assessment Date for the client to see evidence of their property tax reduction. Then you can bill the client and expect getting paid.
So yes, this business can be done year round when dealing at the Property Tax Assessor level. One can gather clients all year round, gather evidence for presentation to the local property tax assessor, even speak to him or her multiple times with applicable evidence that speaks for a reduced assessments.
For those cases that the Property Tax Assessor does not approve and appeal to higher levels (municipal appeal and if not won there to a judicial appeal). But no matter what the situation, pay day for cases you won will fall after the Annual Assessment Date unless you charge the client a small processing fee that you might offer to refund if and when they win their appeal.
Depending on what you had in the pipeline, expect to make a ton of money at time period!
You need this course now to prepare! Reason: 40-60% property tax error rate. See PROOF here: http://www.propertytaxconsult.com/index2.htm
Go to Property Tax Appeal Consulting Course to sign up for the course.
Prepare, then implement. The possibilities and need for property tax appeals are endless. You could have 10 clients or 100, it’s up to you.
The amount of time and effort needed for a $10,000 property tax appeal vs. $5,000 appeal is the same. With an average 20% reduction in property tax, your contingency fee is $2,000 vs. $1,000
You can serve as the checks and balances for a highly flawed system. You’re helping a homeowner who got rejected from getting a fair deal.
If you think you’d like to help the over-assessed and earn a decent contingency commission in the process:
Go to http://propertytaxconsult.com for the full story.
