ValueAppeal does all the hard work for you in about 10 minutes.
Putting together a successful appeal is a time intensive process, often consuming many hours and days, that requires significant research, fact finding and an understanding of your county’s rules and regulations for assessing properties for tax purposes as well and for filing appeals. ValueAppeal does all the hard work for you in about 10 minutes. Here is what you get:
Appeal Evidence Report
This detailed report is customized to your property includes the following information:
- Report Summary
- Proposed property assessment revision
- Property Profile including property parcel number, # of bedrooms, # of bathrooms, square footage of living space, lot size, year built an more.
- Analysis of at least 6 other comparable home sales* including property parcel number, # of bedrooms, # of bathrooms, square footage of living space, lot size, year built an more. *Note, report automatically adjusts the number of comps to your county’s requirements
County Appeal Form
We pre-fill your county’s appeal form for you with as much information as we have available. We shoot for 100% completion but on occasion there are a few pieces of information we don’t have. Not to worry, we note which ones need your attention.
Success Checklist and Instructions
We give you step-by-step instructions that tell you how to file your appeal with the information and evidence we have provided. If there are any remaining items that need attention on the County Appeal Form, we alert you to them. We also give you the address for where you need to send your evidence.
Comp Research Tool
If you have a hearing, request what comparable home sales your County plans to present. Gain an advantage by using our Comp Research Tool to get information on their comps. By preparing in advance of the hearing, you can tell the hearing Board why your comps are better.
ValueAppeal Customer Service Team and Tax Experts
We are standing by to help you throughout the process and answer any question you have. Our Team continuously gets strong praise and feedback from our customers!
We save you precious time by doing all the research, analysis and report preparation for you. Instead of hours and days, we help you create the evidence and complete the forms in about 10 minutes.
Below is how you create and file your appeal report and what happens next.
Step 1: Check your property
Confirm it is overassessed and you are overpaying your property taxes
Step 2: Create FREE account
Create your account and get started
Step 3: Review Comparable Sales
ValueAppeal presents you all of the relevant comparable homes sales that are candidates for your report. Note, before purchase, not all of the relevant information is visible. Each comp’s exact location is shown on a map so you can see where it is in relation to your property. Each comparable home sale presented includes the value when it last sold, a ValueAppeal Comp Score which is a rating that indicates how similar it is and how effective it will be in supporting your case as well as the address, # of bedrooms, # of bathrooms, square feet of livings space and other characteristics. This shows you the power of our service and the value we provide before you buy.
Step 4: Purchase
Buy the Property Tax Evidence Report for a one time fee of $99 with a full money-back guarantee.
Step 5: Select Comparable Sales
After purchase, all of the information on each of the comps is available to you for your analysis. You are presented with the information explaining why some comps are better than others to support your case. After selecting the comps you think make the most sense, afterall you can provide important neighborhood context, you are presented with a report displaying all of the comps in a professional looking table to review
Step 6: Special Conditions
In the event your property has any special condition, we ask you a few questions to provide clarification for the assessor.
Step 7: County Appeal Form
To help us pre-fill as much of the form as possible, we ask you for a few last pieces of information.
Step 8: Submit Report
Your customized Appeal Evidence Report is complete. Simply print it out, the Success Checklist and Instructions are included. Sign the report and put it in the mail.
You are finished with creating and filing your appeal.
What happens after I send in the appeal?
The assessment appeal process will vary depending on which region you live in, but generally the process will go something like this (Please refer to our region-specific FAQ’s for a more detailed description of the appeal process in your region):
1. Informal Review:
Usually, you will receive a phone call in which the assessor's representative will attempt to settle your appeal without a formal appeal board hearing. You will discuss the information ValueAppeal has provided you with over the phone and attempt to come to an agreement for a lower value. For instance, you may have asked for a $100,000 reduction in your assessed value, and the region offers a $50,000 reduction, and you agree on $75,000. This informal process is called "stipulating" a lower value. Because there are so many over-assessed homes these days, the Appeal Board (aka the Board of Equalization) has more formal hearings than they can handle. Therefore, the representative is often incentivized to settle with you in your informal review conversation. ValueAppeal has given you a strong case so don't let them talk you out of the full savings amount you're due.
2. Formal Review
If the informal review process is unsuccessful, you will receive a notice in the mail with your hearing date for you to present your case to a property tax appeals board. Do not be intimidated! Most regions do not require you to attend your appeal hearing. However, we STRONGLY recommend you attend your hearing, which usually only lasts 15 to 20 minutes. If you don’t attend your hearing you are at a great disadvantage in winning your case. During the hearing your job is to point out all of the reasons why the ValueAppeal comps you submitted with your appeal form are better than the comps the assessor uses to support their case. How do you do this?
Comparative Analysis Tool
Prior to the appeal hearing, most region assessors will mail the homeowner a list of the four to five comps that the assessor will present during the appeal hearing to support their original assessment. The homeowner's job during the appeal hearing is to explain why their comps (which they obtained from ValueAppeal) are better than the comps the assessor presents. How do you do this?
When you receive the letter in the mail from the assessor listing their comps which support their higher assessed value, log in to your My Account page on the ValueAppeal.com website. Click on the button that says Comparative Analysis and enter the parcel IDs, or street addresses, of the comps the assessor is planning on presenting during the hearing. ValueAppeal's Comparative Analysis Tool will instantly analyze the assessor’s comps and point out all of the reasons their comps are not similar to yours and unfairly support a higher value.
For instance, let's say your home has three bedrooms, two bathrooms and is assessed for about $400,000, and the assessor presents four comps that have five bedrooms, three bathrooms and that each sold for about $500,000. Our Comparative Analysis tool will point out that the assessor's comps are not similar enough to yours and therefore unfairly support a higher assessed value.
How much work do I have to do after I pay the fee?
- Relying on your knowledge of the neighborhood, you select the best five to seven comps out of our list using our robust comparison tools. ValueAppeal sifts through hundreds of potential comparable properties that sold within the correct time period and presents you with a list of only the best ten comps.
- Print out the report. ValueAppeal uses your comp selection to create a custom report in PDF format.
- You drop the report into the mail.
ValueAppeal thinks my house is only worth how much!?!
- ValueAppeal offers evidence to prove the lowest supportable assessed value as of a particular point in time each year called the "assessment date" or "lien date".
- ValueAppeal does NOT offer evidence to support the market value of any property as of any point in time.
- ValueAppeal does NOT offer an opinion of the market value of any property at any point in time.
- ValueAppeal is NOT an appraiser.
- Our only goal is to reduce the assessed value of your home.
- A homeowner should not use our revised assessed value for the purpose of determining the appropriate purchase or sale price for any particular property.
Can I really save that much?
Your estimated savings is based on the average selling price of the actual comparable sales we’ve identified as specific evidence for lowering your particular assessment.
ValueAppeal only allows you to purchase our report if we’re confident you have strong evidence for winning your appeal. That means we have five to ten comparable properties that sold for less than your home is assessed for.
We have a 100% money back guarantee if you lose your appeal so it doesn’t do us any good to recommend that you appeal if you don’t have a strong case.
What is my guarantee of success?
ValueAppeal can't guarantee that you will win your appeal. No one could guarantee that.
ValueAppeal can guarantee to give you 100% of your fee back if you lose your appeal using our Evidence Report.
Using our Appeal Evidence Report we estimate you have an 80% chance of lowering your assessed value.
What is the relationship between an assessed property valuation and taxes?
Local tax jurisdictions use assessments to determine what tax rate they must set to raise the revenue they need to pay for public services. If property valuations go down overall in a particular year, the region will likely raise the tax rate on all properties so they still have enough revenue to pay for public services.
What is an assessment appeal?
An assessment appeal is a process whereby you can appeal your property's assessed value to a review board. This board will review the information you present to justify a lower property tax valuation and then determine if your request is justified.
What happens next after I have appealed in writing?
Depending on your local jurisdiction, a certain percentage of appeals are approved without a hearing if the information submitted is overwhelmingly compelling (ValueAppeal customers have a much higher than average chance of winning their appeal at this stage). If the appeal is not immediately approved, the first step will be for you to have an informal hearing with your assessor on the telephone or in person.
What happens at an informal hearing?
At the informal hearing over the phone or in person, the assessor will verify the property information and comparable sales you obtained from ValueAppeal and compare this data with the region’s valuation on file. Remember, the homeowner is responsible for providing comparable sales (comps) as evidence that the region’s current assessment is wrong.
What happens at a formal hearing?
If your appeal is not approved during the informal hearing, you must request a formal hearing to present your case in front of the review board.
What types of homes are not allowed as comps?
In general, any home sale that wasn’t the result of a willing buyer and willing seller negotiating a fair price. For instance, the appeal board typically denies: foreclosed homes, short-sale homes, inherited homes, homes donated to nonprofits, homes sold as part of a divorce settlement, etc.
How do you value my home?
We use the comparable sales valuation method only. We do not use the income method, or replacement cost method in our analysis.
Do you use rules of thumb?
No. A rule of thumb is a perception based on experience or practice rather than on evidence or knowledge. Rules of thumb, or preconceived conclusions, are completely inappropriate in an assessment appeals hearing.
Do you address allocation of value disputes?
No. We only provide our opinion of the total value of the property. For example, you may agree with the region’s overall valuation of your property, but not agree with how the region has allocated the value between the land and the improvements. Our comps may support your argument but they are not intended for that purpose and a failed appeal for reallocation will not earn a refund of our fee.
Couldn’t I just get this information from other websites like Zillow or Redfin?
Comparable sales information is indeed available on other websites. However, sifting through the data and choosing the right comps is extremely difficult. Most failed appeals are turned down because homeowners interpreted the data incorrectly. It also takes a lot of your time and effort doing research. We make sure our comps abide by all of the unique rules your region requires. Some regions allow foreclosure sales to be used as comps and some don’t. Some regions allow properties donated to charities to be used as comps and some don’t. Some regions disqualify homes that were inherited by a family member after a death in the family, some do not. Some regions disqualify homes that had excessive cumulative days listed on the market prior to sale, and some don’t. Some regions don’t allow properties that have been sold between two financial institutions to be used as comps, and some don’t mind at all. ValueAppeal knows the answers to these questions about your particular region but other websites do not.
What if my appeal is denied?
We have a 100% money back guarantee if your appeal is denied. Simply scan, fax, or mail us a copy of your denial and we will refund 100% of the fee back onto your credit card. We require a copy of the denial so that we may determine how to improve our recommendation in the future.
