If you are like most people you are trying to do whatever you can to lower your expenses. As gas prices and movies go up in price along with everything else we are always trying to cut at least one of our bills and save some money. Well, I have a way for you to possibly save a couple of hundred bucks a year if not more and it doesn’t involve cutting out your morning coffee or anything drastic like cutting your heat off in the winter.
No, you can reduce one of your largest expenses by simply signing your name if you are a homeowner. What I am talking about is your property taxes. Each year you must pay your property taxes whether it is escrowed thru your mortgage company or you pay it out of pocket yourself. The amount of property taxes you must pay each year is set by the county’s tax assessor’s office. They decide how much you will pay based on what your neighbors are paying and what amenities your home has compared to theirs.
For example, if you have a 1200 square foot house and your neighbor’s house is 1400 square feet then in theory, your neighbor’s taxes should be higher. But if your in cook county this isn’t always the case. So normally what happens is if you believe that you have a higher than normal tax bill you are able to challenge the assessment that is used to figure out your tax bill. If the board of review finds that you are paying more than your fair share of taxes then they will lower your assessment and thereby lower your tax bill. If they find out that your taxes are not lower than everyone else they will not reassess your property and your taxes will not be changed.
Either way you will NOT get a higher tax bill. They will only look at if your taxes should be lower or should they stay the same. Now here comes the easy part, in order to challenge your taxes all you need to do is go online to your county assessor’s office and they will have forms online. Or you can call the tax assessor’s office and ask their office for the next scheduled class on lowering your property taxes. Yes, that’s right they actually have a class where you go in talk with a county attorney and they will help you fill out the paperwork to lower your taxes.
The best part is that they do all the work for you once you agree to challenge your taxes. You simply fill out the form and leave the rest to the county. See the county often raises the taxes on property and most people do not challenge the tax increase. The tiny percentage of people who challenge the taxes and get their taxes lowered is minor to the county and they still will get an overall increase in taxes.
So if you want to save a couple of bucks and you’ve got ten or fifteen minutes, take some time fill out the forms and try to get those taxes down. This applies to ANYONE who owns property and it doesn’t have to be just the property you live in. You can do rental property and investment property.
Till next time Good luck and God Bless and remember… If you have any questions about saving or selling your home or any topics on real estate that you would like to know more about please email me and I will answer your questions in this column.
Arthur Veal is owner of We Buy Houses Home Services. We Buy Houses Home Services is a real estate investment company that specializes in renting to own and selling on terms. They have helped hundreds of families sell their houses on terms. They also specialize in private mortgages and work with several passive investors through their site at http://www.earnasecuredreturn.com
Leave a Reply