Tag Archives: triennial assessments

Cook County Home & Land Assessments Increasing 17-25%+

Evanston Property Tax IncreasesSo far, three Cook County townships have been opened for property tax appeals that have been reassessed based on Cook County’s triennial assessment schedule: Evanston, New Trier and Barrington.

The median assessed values on homes (not on land – more on that later) has increased 17-25% in these three townships. That being the median, we’ve represented many homeowners from these townships that have seen 40% increases in assessed home values.
Continue reading

Norwood Park Township Triennial Reassessment Notices Mailed

Norwood ParkTriennial reassessment notices were mailed to Norwood Park Township property owners on Friday, February 22nd. Norwood Park valuation statistics from the Cook County Assessor’s office can be found here. Homeowners in Norwood Park Township have one month to appeal their assessment at the Assessor’s office (there is also a second opportunity later in the year at the Board of Review). The deadline for appealing at the Assessor’s office is Monday, March 25th.

We recommend reviewing your assessment annually, especially in a year when your township is reassessed, to ensure you do not pay more than your fair share in property taxes. If you think your home’s assessment is not comparable to similar properties in your area you should consider appealing. Successfully appealing in a reassessment year may provide 3 years of savings on your future property tax bills. If you would like a free estimate of how much we believe we could help you save with an appeal contact us today.
Continue reading

Why Do So Many Cook County Homeowners Fail to Appeal Even When the Assessor Recommends It?

Cook County Property Tax Appeal "Rough Draft"Every three years, Cook County homeowners get re-assessed. Since the Great Recession is over, property taxes are dramatically increasing to pay for unfunded pensions and the Chicago Public Schools shortfall.

Did you know that your last assessment was a “rough draft” and that, if you didn’t appeal, you will probably pay a lot more than your fair share because you didn’t do what Cook County requires you to do to ensure a fair assessment?

This comes straight from the Cook County Assessor’s Office.

The “Rough Draft” of Your Home’s Re-Assessment

According to Tom Shaer of the Cook County Assessor’s Office, as reported in the recent Crain’s article by Dennis Rodkin, “The first reassessment homeowners get is essentially a rough draft, meant to be tailored via an appeal. The appeal process is part of turning macro-data that comes from a computerized system into sophisticated micro-data that reflects the individual nature of each property.”

Don’t Believe It?

Perhaps because we assist with appealing Cook County homeowners’ property tax assessments, you may think we are making too big a deal out of this. If so, how about this from Fran Sitkiewicz, the Riverside Township Assessor: “The assessment feels like something you have control over. So you appeal it. Homeowners don’t want to get caught paying any more in taxes than they have to.”

What happens if you don’t appeal? A flawed assessment of your home may stay in place and you may pay more – possibly hundreds or thousands more – if you don’t appeal.

We think you should pay property taxes – just not more than your fair share and an appeal is the only way to ensure fairness, which is what the Cook County Assessor’s Office has been saying for years.

The Kensington Numbers: Only a Tiny Fraction of Homeowners Appeal

According to what is reported in Mr. Rodkin’s article and our comprehensive Cook County homeowner data that we’ve acquired and honed for many years, we’ve learned the following:

  • Emilio Cundari from Cicero Township says 850 homeowners went to his office to appeal. We’ve conducted an analysis with our algorithm on all single family homes in Cicero Township (14,497) and estimate that 5,999 of them are significantly over assessed. Though some will appeal online or use a third-party service like Kensington, many more simply live with being over-assessed.
  • Robert Maloney from Palos Township says they handled 1,200 appeals in their office. There are 20,435 single family homes in Palos Township of which we estimate 6,154 are significantly over assessed.
  • Since the Assessor’s office has stated that their reassessment process is merely a “rough draft” there does not appear, in our professional opinion, to be nearly enough appeals being filed to correct/reflect the “individual nature of each property.”

Have You Heard from Kensington Yet?

We pre-qualify everyone we contact about a possible property tax appeal so, if you’ve heard from us, it is our professional opinion that your property’s valuation falls in that group of homes that we feel is over assessed and whose valuation should be “tailored via an appeal.”

If you haven’t heard from us, we can conduct a free, no-obligation property tax reduction estimate. We only suggest appealing based on what we estimate from our proprietary algorithm, and only if it’s a significant savings.

Appealing is the only way you can save hundreds or thousands in the future and to ensure the “final draft” of your property assessment has you paying the right amount.

Get Your Free Property Tax Reduction Estimate

Why Appeal Your Property Taxes Every Year

Why Appeal Cook County & Chicago Property Taxes Every YearThe conventional wisdom is to appeal your Cook County property taxes once and be done with it.

Even better: some make sure they appeal after the county has re-assessed property taxes every three years based on their triennial schedule (1/3 of all 38 Cook County townships are re-assessed each year).

Even better yet is to appeal every year – or to at least have Kensington run a free, no-obligation property tax appeal estimate to see how much savings may be achieved and if it’s worth the effort. Here’s why this makes sense.
Continue reading

Can Cook County Retaliate for Property Tax Appeals?

Property Tax Appeal Retaliation in Cook CountyA question that we get a lot about appealing property taxes in Cook County is whether or not the County Assessor or anyone else can retaliate for a successful property tax appeal and reduction.

Since we started working on property tax appeals, we’ve found no evidence of retaliatory measures of any kind.

Instead, we’ve discovered the opposite.
Continue reading

The Compound Effect of Property Tax Appeals

property-tax-appeals-compound-effectIn 1716, Christopher Bullock in The Cobbler of Preston wrote, “‘Tis impossible to be sure of any thing but Death and Taxes.”

Considering the growing, unfunded pension liabilities of Chicago and the suburbs, you can count on further property tax increases.
Continue reading

Chicago Property Taxes: Homeowner Double Whammy

Cook County Property Tax Double Whammy

Crain’s recently covered how Rahm Emmanuel’s $588 million property tax hike, which passed the Chicago City Council on October 28, is a double whammy for commercial property owners because it comes at a time when property values are rising and Cook County is re-assessing.

The same holds true for Chicago homeowners because of rising home values and all city of Chicago townships are being re-assessed this year.

Continue reading

Cook County Triennial Assessments: What You Should Know

Cook County Triennial AssessmentsDid you know that properties in each Cook County township are re-assessed every three years (they refer to this as the “triennial re-assessment)?

Here’s what these triennial assessments mean for you:

  • If you’re in the first year of a triennial re-assessment period, it’s critical that you appeal your property taxes right away as the results will affect you for the next three years
  • If you haven’t appealed your property taxes in the last three years, you may be able to achieve hundreds or thousands of dollars in property tax reductions if you appeal this year
  • If you’ve appealed sometime in the last three years and haven’t been re-assessed since, there’s still an opportunity to achieve a further property tax reduction as other property tax variables change each year (many other properties are sold/purchased and appealed)
  • If you’ve appealed this year with the Assessor’s Office, you may be able to achieve further property tax reductions by also appealing with the Cook County Board of Review
  • Click here for the most recent Cook County triennial assessment calendar

Contact us to learn more about triennial assessments and appealing your Cook County property taxes