- Property Tax Appeals
- Illinois
The Cook County Assessor’s Office has made changes to the residential valuation system to provide more equality to the residential property tax process. However, some of the changes to the residential valuation, coupled with rising home prices, is causing homeowners to have sticker shock.
Residential Homeowners Hit with New Assessments, Rising Home Prices
A property assessment determines the amount of the overall real estate tax burden is paid by each property owner. This is coupled with areas of the city that have seen a rise in its property values. However, just because a home’s value increases doesn’t mean that the homeowners themselves have more money in their pockets to pay a larger property tax. For example, some Chicago neighborhoods saw a median assessment increased drastically, outpacing the area’s actual appreciation.
In addition, the new assessment model includes issues left over from the previous system including insufficient data on the condition of individual homes, the precise location of some homes, and other worrisome factors.
Commercial Properties Continue to Drag on Overall Tax Burden
Commercial property assessment defects were noted in the same Chicago Tribune/ProPublica Illinois article titled The Tax Divide.
Smaller business owners are shouldering the bulk of the tax burden because of system inequities. Commercial assessment formulas remain disparate with massive underassessments in some parts of the City of Chicago with massive overassessments in other areas.
Assessments are a critical data point that determines how much of the overall real estate tax burden is paid by an individual homeowner. However, another aspect of the equation is that the previous assessment system relied heavily on the appeal process. As new property tax appeals continue to increase, decisions on appeals finding their way through the system may impact the overall effects of reassessments throughout Chicago.
Property taxes unappealing? KSN can help.
Appealing your Illinois property taxes is one way to ensure that the amount you pay is fair whether you live in the north/northwest Chicago suburbs, south/southwest Chicago suburbs, or in the City of Chicago.
Since 2015, KSN has worked diligently to save our clients over $150 million in reduced property tax assessments. We handle property tax appeals from start to finish for every type of property including:
- Community association property tax appeals
- Residential property tax appeals
- Multi-family and apartment building property tax appeals
- Retail and small business property tax appeals
- Commercial and office building property tax appeals
- Industrial property tax appeals
We work on a contingency fee basis. You pay no legal fees unless an assessment reduction is achieved.
Questions about our property tax appeal services? Contact us by calling 847-537-0500 or by visiting www.ksnlaw.com/tax-appeal.
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