Property Tax Appeal is a No-Lose Investment, Just Ask an Investor

Maximizing the return on investment for a piece of real estate means keeping a close watch on your expenses.

That’s why Sam Sharp, executive vice president of a top 5 mortgage lender in Chicago and a residential property investor, knows better than to simply accept the initial valuation sent out by the Cook County Property Assessor.

Acting on this knowledge has saved him over $7,000 and, perhaps more importantly, a lot of time.

We Do the Analysis, Our Clients Save Money

For the past three years, Sharp has worked with Kensington as his property tax appeals consultant. We analyze his properties and arrange for the appeals – every year, twice a year. It’s important to appeal both to the Cook County Assessor’s office and again to the Board of Review. If you don’t, you may be leaving money on the table. Often there are additional comps available after the first round of appeals. These can be used to make an argument to the Board of Review for further reduction.

Our assistance has resulted in $7,386 in reductions for Sharp so far on his four properties over the last few years. That’s $7,386 in property value not subject to the climbing tax rates imposed by the list of agencies whose levies make up a Cook County property tax bill.

Time Savings

Sharp knows the value of his time. He doesn’t have a lot of it. It doesn’t make sense for him to try to manage his own property appeals. He hires Kensington Research instead. “I wouldn’t have time to do it otherwise,” he says.

The process of searching for the comparable properties needed to make a case for a reduced assessment is tedious enough when you are dealing with one property. Multiply that by 5 and you are talking about a part-time job.

Let Us Estimate Your Savings

Appealing is the only way to be sure that you are not paying more than your fair share in property taxes, whether you own five houses or just the one you live in. The Cook County Assessor has acknowledged that your initial assessment may not reflect the fair value of your property. And when you don’t appeal, you are essentially underwriting the savings of those who do.

If you would like to know more about what we can do to help shrink your property tax bill, contact us for a free, no-obligation review of your potential savings. If we don’t think you can achieve a significant reduction in assessed value, we won’t recommend an appeal. You don’t pay anything unless we help you win. And we win 90% of the time.

Get Your Free Property Tax Reduction Estimate