How Appealing Your Property Taxes Improves Your Home’s Salability

Time was when Chicagoland homebuyers could expect to pay 2-2.5% of their home’s purchase price in property taxes. Today, that figure is close to 4%, emphasized a July 26 article posted on The Woodstock Independent.

“People used to say, ‘How much is this house?’ Now their first question is ‘What are the taxes?'” Woodstock real estate agent Rick Bellairs is quoted as saying in the article.

Total Cost of Home Ownership

The higher the property taxes you pay, the harder it will be to sell your home or receive your asking price. If your home is comparable in value to other homes a buyer is considering, yours will be more desirable if the property taxes are less.

Those who are looking to buy a new home, in turn, need to calculate what the property taxes will be on that residence, not just the monthly mortgage payment and homeowner’s insurance and PMI (if applicable). Property taxes can easily add $1,000 a month to a mortgage payment on a mid-sized home.

For Home Buyers

If you’re looking to buy a new home, don’t just ask to see the home seller’s recent tax bills. Ask for documentation of the most recent property tax assessment, the current tax rate, the formula for computing property taxes in the county and municipality, and any approved future tax hikes.

For Homeowners Selling

Homeowners in the Chicago area have just two options for lowering property taxes: appeal your home’s assessed value, and take advantage of any exemptions.

Appealing your home’s last official assessment ensures that you don’t pay more than your fair share and is completely risk-free. But if you’re thinking about filing the appeal on your own, you should reconsider unless you happen to be an appraiser or a tax attorney. Instead, use our experience of more than 15 years in business saving more than 10,000 clients millions of dollars in property taxes due to inequitable over-assessments to get you a maximum property tax reduction.

Get your free property tax reduction estimate