Tag Archives: property tax appeal service

Senior Exemption Deadlines Approaching

Senior Exemptions

Senior citizens who are newly eligible for a senior citizen property tax exemption or who are eligible for the income-based Senior Freeze Exemption, have until April 10th to apply, under a recently extended deadline.

Under a new law passed last year, senior citizens who have already qualified for the standard senior citizen exemption in past years do not have to reapply. The exemption is now automatically renewed.

Applicants for the Senior Freeze Exemption however, are required to apply each year. Cook County homeowners age 65 or older who have household incomes of $65,000 or less may qualify. This senior freeze exemption provides additional property tax deductions to offset increases in assessed property values.
Continue reading →

Cook County Property Tax Appeal Schedule 2016

Attention Cook County Homeowners: Property Tax Reduction Season Is Here

Cook County Property Tax Appeal Calendar 2016Every year, the Cook County Assessor accepts property tax appeals for each township for about 30 days and at various times from late January through late summer.

Each township’s appeal window is different – see your township’s property tax appeal window on the Assessor’s full appeal schedule here.
Continue reading →

Cook County Property Taxes: Disabled Veteran Exemption Update

cook-county-disabled-veteran-homeowner-property-tax-exemptionVeterans who own a home in Cook County that are disabled 70% or more no longer have to pay property taxes thanks to recent legislation (SB 107).

The Cook County Assessor has expanded the Disabled Veterans Homeowner Exemption to 100% from a limit of $5,000 previously (see table), for the tax year 2015, which is billed and due in 2016.

Additionally, veterans whose level of disability is between 30-70% are eligible for a property tax exemption of $2,500-$5,000 (see table). These exemptions only apply to veterans with a service-connected disability as certified by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and whose primary residence is in Cook County. Non-remarried surviving spouses are also eligible.
Continue reading →

Protect Your Investment with Kensington Mortgage Brokerage Services

For most people, a house is likely the most important investment they will ever make, in multiple senses of the word. It’s where you put down roots, raise a family, celebrate with the people you love. It can also be a source of wealth building and financial security.

That’s why it’s so important to protect your investment. That might mean making necessary repairs or improvements. It can also mean not paying more than you should for in interest or mortgage fees.

A small change in your mortgage interest rate can cost you tens of thousands of dollars over the life of your loan.
Continue reading →

Cook County Senior Exemption Deadline: February 3, 2016

Cook County Senior Property Tax ExemptionsAttention all seniors in Cook County: the deadline for applying and re-applying for both the Senior Citizen Exemption and the Senior Freeze Exemption is February 3, 2016.

Not doing so will result in the loss of the exemption applied to your 2016 second installment property tax bills that you will receive this summer. Even if you have had one or both of these exemptions previously, you must now re-apply every year.

Continue reading →

Fixed Income Property Tax Reductions

Fixed Income Property Tax ReductionIf you’re living on a fixed income, you’re probably even more concerned about Rahm Emanuel’s $588 million property tax hike than the average homeowner – and rightfully so, but you don’t have to be.

Just as property taxes are not a fixed cost, they can actually be reduced – possibly by as much or more than they are expected to increase for you.

Did you get that?
Continue reading →

Buying a Home? Avoid Property Tax Gotchas…

Home Buying Property Tax Appeal GotchasWhen buying a home, many scrutinize home prices, assessed value, interest rates, and even PMI when determining what to pay and what they can afford.

However, many neglect one of the most important financial aspects of home buying or, should we say, home paying: accurately estimating your property tax obligation.
Continue reading →

Factoring Floodplain Data into Property Tax Assessments

Chicago North ShoreCook County Tax Assessor Fritz Kaegi backed off a plan to provide immediate relief to more than 1,100 homeowners living within a floodplain in the New Trier township after a rocky roll-out left him having to defend a decision that would have reduced the assessed value of some pricey homes by as much as 30%.

But floodplain data, compiled by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), has been added to the county’s assessment models and will be a factor taken into consideration going forward.
Continue reading →

A Taxing Year for Chicago Homeowners

Chicago rowhouse neighborhoodChicago residents won’t see the 2020 property tax hikes some had feared under a city budget that holds property tax increases to $18 million for public libraries, but it is little relief for a city still absorbing multiyear increases imposed to cover unfunded pension obligations– and the sting of this year’s reassessments, which hit some North Side and Central neighborhoods hard.

Pension pressures still loom large over the city of Chicago, which faces a pension burden “the largest of any U.S. city,” according to The Wall Street Journal.

Meanwhile, the five-year contract that resolved the recent teachers’ strike will carry a price tag estimated at $1.5 billion.
Continue reading →

Exemption to Provide Property Tax Relief for Survivors of First Responders

Property Tax Relief for Spouses of Fallen First RespondersThe surviving spouses of Chicago police officers, firefighters, active duty soldiers and other first responders who have died in the line of duty will be eligible for an exemption waiving the city portion of their property tax bill, under an ordinance that will take effect next year with the 2019 tax bill.

While state lawmakers originally authorized this bill in 2012, it required the sponsorship of local officials. The measure was sponsored in Chicago by 11th Ward Alderman Patrick Daley Thompson.

“While our debt to their service and sacrifice cannot possibly be repaid, their legacies are carried on by the families they loved,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a statement. “We will continue to do everything in our power to ensure we can make their lives a little easier.”
Continue reading →