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You May Be Spending More On Property Taxes Than You Need To – Save On Taxes With Ownwell And Only Pay Out Of What You Save
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By Anthony Termini, Benzinga
Real estate analytics firm CoreLogic recently published a report that showed property taxes on the median single-family home in America have risen by more than 25% since 2019. During the same period, Federal Reserve data show that the average sales price of those homes rose by more than 33%.
Do Higher Home Prices Justify Higher Property Tax Assessments?
Higher home prices may lead many homeowners to conclude that their property tax increases are accurate and reasonable. However, property tax assessments aren’t appraisals intended to reveal a given property’s actual value.
Tax assessments “aim to capture a measure of fair market value at a given point in time,” says Debbie Loesel, a Senior Tax Manager at the accounting firm Deloitte. That measure is expressed as a mill rate.
Mill rates are determined by local governments as part of their annual budget process. The mill rate is set by dividing a city’s or county’s budget shortfall by an estimate of the value of real property in the jurisdiction and then dividing that number by 1,000.
According to Colton Pace, co-founder of Ownwell, a company that helps homeowners lower their property tax bills, “a mill is one one-thousandth of a dollar, and in property tax terms is equal to $1.00 of tax for each $1,000 of assessment. 15 mills, therefore, is equal to $15 for every $1,000 of assessed value, or 1.5%.”
Deloitte’s Loesel points out that the volume of property subject to assessment means that “jurisdictions generally rely on mass appraisal techniques.”
Ownwell’s Pace suggests that this is where issues arise. He says that “the value that is put on an assessment notice is an opinion. They’re valuing millions of properties all at the same time. So there’s lots of room for errors.”
What Can Homeowners Do To Lower Property Tax Bills?
The first step in lowering a property tax bill is understanding the variables that go into it. Sales comparisons – the technique used by appraisers – are commonly used to assess the value of residential real estate. But this is not as straightforward as it may sound.
Two homes next door to each other on the same street can still be significantly different. A typical tax assessment system won’t pick this up.
“For example, you can get a discrepancy in assessments if you have an older home next to a new one,” says Ownwell’s Pace.
The next step homeowners can take to lower their property tax is to work with a professional. Appealing an assessment should be based on more than just a disagreement with the bill. Hiring a local real estate attorney may help. But that process can be expensive.
Firms like Ownwell can help decipher the complexity of an assessment and analyze a property to identify opportunities to reduce a tax bill without an up-front fee. Ownwell gets paid out of any tax savings its analysis finds, and its evaluations are extensive.
In the states where it operates – California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, New York, Texas and Washington – Ownwell combines proprietary technology and deep local knowledge to build evidence that a reduction is warranted. The company understands the nuances that can affect a residential property tax bill in each state.
Ownwell manages an end-to-end process that includes filing paperwork, talking with local assessors and even attending appeal board hearings. When this process results in a reduced tax, the company’s fee is a portion of the homeowner’s savings.
The company has been successful in securing tax reductions for some 86% of the homeowners that use its service, and Ownwell notes that the average tax savings amount to about $1,150.
More importantly, customers are not charged for any work unless the taxing authority provides signed documentation that the homeowner’s final property tax bill is actually reduced.
If Ownwell’s analysis identifies any risk that a property tax bill could be increased, it won’t pursue an appeal. Pace points out that it is still important to review property taxes every year to ensure that the amount billed is accurate and fair.
Registering on the company’s site takes about three minutes. Entering a property address will reveal any potential tax savings and creative ways to save on other costs of homeownership. Paces says this is ingrained into its process, “Ownwell's mission is to make the cost of real estate more clear and equitable.”
To find potential exemptions, homeowners can check their county tax assessment website or enter their address for a free estimate at Ownwell.com.
Featured photo by Public Co from Pixabay.
Benzinga is a leading financial media and data provider, known for delivering accurate, timely, and actionable financial information to empower investors and traders.
This post contains sponsored content. This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be investing advice.
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