The Benefits of a Hidden Fence

A Hidden Fence Protects Your Dog and Adds Convenience for You

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Ithe convenience of letting your dog out of the house any time, day or night, without worrying they will wander off your property, there is a great solution. A hidden fence is an underground pet fencing system that uses a radio signal to keep your dog in a designated containment area, or out of an area, such as a swimming pool, patio, or garden. They can also create indoor boundaries to keep your pet off a couch, out of a room or away from a kitchen counter.

HOW A HIDDEN FENCE WORKS

A ‘boundary wire’ is buried a few inches underground around your property. The buried wire carries a harmless, low level radio signal from a transmitter installed in your house or garage. Your pet wears a lightweight, waterproof receiver collar that recognizes the radio signal. As your pet approaches the buried wire, the receiver collar emits a warning signal (audible or vibration). If your pet travels further, he will receive a mild but safe stimulation (also called a “correction”) from the receiver collar. Through a training program, your pet learns to recognize his fence boundaries and to stop at the warning signal. With an indoor system, the hidden wire runs around your couch, under the lip of the counter, around the trash or across a doorway or wherever you need to create a containment area tor an “off-limits” area. There are also wireless indoor units that do not require placement of a boundary wire.

TRAINING IS KEY

Training is an important part of the process. This includes teaching your pet to recognize the containment area boundaries. Your pet learns that if he continues beyond the warning alert, he will receive a mild correction (a stimulation from the collar) that is unpleasant, but it will not “burn” or injure your pet. It is similar to the static shock you receive after walking across a carpet in your socks. After training, dogs usually stop before the warning signal to avoid the correction. To learn more about a hidden fence for your property, you can contact DogWatch Hidden Fences of St. Louis at 314-965-9209 or by email at DogWatchSTL@gmail.com.

Create a lasting image of a cherished member of your family

Sometimes we love them more than we know. Schedule a photo session with us to create beautiful, lasting memory. Portraits shot on location, in home or in studio. Michael Kilfoy / Studio X 314-773-8900 michael@studiox.us

Looking for a Night Off from the Kitchen and a New “Dining Out at Home” Experience?

LOCAL ST. LOUIS CHEF COREY MARION HAS BEEN TRANSLATING HIS PASSION FOR CREATING DELICIOUS MEALS INTO TWO NEW AT-HOME DINING OPTIONS FOR BUSY FAMILIES, WITHOUT THE EFFORT OF PREPARATION OR CLEANUP.

hef Corey Marion has home or at your business, drawing on his . . . fan favorite dishes. Based on that

Cbeen using his passion years of experience as a personal chef for a information he creates a varied menu of for creating delicious Caribbean charter yacht and Head Chef of entrees, side dishes and desserts personalmeals and translating a five-star South Carolina boutique hotel ized for your family or event. The service it into two great dining restaurant. He brings to your dining table is completely customized, so you have the options for busy or special event the perfect blend of distinc- opportunity to approve menus and request families. tive yet approachable cuisine. changes. CHEF COREY’S WOK AND Chef Corey will meet with you to plan a Chef Corey will do all the grocery shopping, ROLL FOOD TRUCK offers private so- dinner, weekly meals or a special event, purchasing only the highest quality ingredicially-distanced events for families, neigh- creating menus based on dietary needs or ents for your meals. He brings to your borhoods or entertaining right at your restrictions personal taste and, of course home his food truck with all the necessary home – a fun, safe way to connect with cooking equipment, so friends and neighbors your kitchen remains who are missing those spotless. If you would enjoyable dining out like meals for several eveexperiences. Here’s how nings, he can prepare and it works: Wok and Roll package three or four will roll up at the loca- meals at a time for eating tion and time of your fresh during the week. choosing. Pre-orders can He can provide complete be taken ahead of time re-heating and finishing for ease and timeliness instructions. When it’s if need be. Also, this time for dinner, you find is a great option for yourself enjoying a home-businesses looking for a cooked meal in minutes, unique way to connect with very little cleanup with customers, friends when you are finished. or employees. No matter what your Wok and Roll offers dining desire, Chef creative Asian-inspired Corey provides very tasty cuisine, with gluten-free fare and takes the prep, and vegetarian options cooking, and clean-up off available at prices rang- of your hands. You can ing from $6-$15. A fun contact him by phone option for a weekend at 314-724-3424 or by event! email at Wokandrollstl@ CATERING BY gmail.com, Instagram COREY is a second op- @wokandrollstl, or tion for a more personal- Facebook Wok And Roll ized and unique dining STL, to create an expeexperience. Chef Corey prepares restaurant quality meals to enjoy in the comfort of your Clockwise from upper left: Wok and Roll Food Truck, Beef with broccoli burger and fried egg, Cashew chicken with stir-fry vegetables, Cherry tomato Caprese kebabs, Chocolate-covered strawberries with tropical fruit sushi, Roast tenderloin with gouda whipped potatoes rience like none other for your next dinner or event!

STEVEN A. WEBER is Partner Director of Valuation at Property Assessment Review and PAR Residential. His team of experts has the experience, market and legal knowledge to achieve the biggest tax reduction possible on residential and commercial properties. He has been reducing property taxes for 30 years, and before that was a Senior Appraiser for St. Louis County for five years. Property Assessment Review is the leading property tax consulting firm in St. Louis, saving over $100 million for some of the region’s largest commercial taxpayers – the St. Louis Galleria, Solon Gershman, Duke Realty, Mills Properties and US Bank. In 2008, PAR created PAR Residential to represent home owners in St. Louis County. PAR’s residential clients have saved over $10,000,000 in real estate taxes since 2009 with over 80% of appeals resulting in tax savings.

How to Lower Your Property Taxes

ARE THEY STILL TAX DEDUCTIBLE?

t. Louis County

Sproperties are to be reassessed in 2021 by the Assessor’s office. This new value estimate will be used to determine your property taxes for 2021 and 2022. In general, we expect assessments to increase substantially as a result of recent real estate market activity, but even if your value doesn’t change substantially, these new values should be reviewed carefully. This appraised value is supposed to represent the market value of your home as of January 1, 2021. In addition, new federal income tax rules include a $10,000 cap on the amount taxpayers can deduct in combined property tax and local and state income tax while nearly doubling standard deductions. This means many people who have historically itemized to deduct things like property taxes or mortgage interest may get more by claiming the standard deduction. These changes make taking steps to minimize your property tax bill even more important than in the past.

APPEALS MUST BE FILED IN JULY, DON’T WAIT UNTIL YOU GET YOUR TAX BILL IN NOVEMBER.

The simple fact is – assessors make mistakes. They utilize computer based mass appraisal techniques, market averages and neighborhood models to determine property values, which may not accurately reflect your property value. These errors and miscalculations end up costing you money year after year. More often than not, we find that the assessor’s value does not reflect the actual value based on recent sale prices of homes that are comparable with yours. In fact, since 2009 we have filed over 19,000 appeals in St. Louis County alone resulting in over $10,000,000 in tax savings to homeowners.

A NO-RISK RESOURCE FOR HOMEOWNERS.

You now have the opportunity to have your appraised value professionally reviewed to determine if you are being fairly assessed and taxed. We base our opinion of market value not on mass computer modeling like the Assessor does but on real comparable sales in your neighborhood. PAR Residential does all the work and only earns a fee if we are successful in lowering your taxes. All costs of the appeal are paid by PAR Residential including legal fees and appraisal costs.

HERE’S HOW IT WORKS:

1. SET UP A FILE. PAR will gather information from you and County records, including the Assessor’s “appraisal”, and set up a case file on your home.

2. DETERMINATION OF FAIR VAL-

UE. PAR Residential will determine a fair appraised value for your property based on real comparable sales in your neighborhood. 3. NOTIFICATION. We will notify you of the results of our review of your appraised value. If we determine the Assessor’s appraised value is fair, no appeal will be filed. There will be no cost to you for our time and efforts.

4. FILE YOUR APPEAL BEFORE THE

JULY 12TH DEADLINE. If we determine that your property is over-valued by the assessor we will file an appeal on your behalf and provide the required information to the Board of Equalization.

5. BOARD OF EQUALIZATION

(BOE) HEARINGS. The PAR Residential Team will attend the hearing and argue your case. We will send the official BOE results to you in September and let you know if we need to continue your appeal to the State Tax Commission of Missouri. 6. FEE. Only if we are successful in achieving a reduction in your property tax bill, we share equally in the tax savings (50/50). All of our work is performance based: NO SAVINGS, NO FEE. There are no additional costs to you for any of our work. Our invoice will be sent to you in the fall, arriving about the same time you receive your reduced tax bill. Interested in signing up? The enrollment process is quick and easy. Visit our website and sign up online today! Specific questions can be answered by emailing them to info@parresidential.com or by calling PAR Residential at 314-454-0505 from 9am to 5pm Monday through Friday. You can learn more about saving money on your real estate taxes, the assessment and the appeal process by visiting www.parresidential.com.