How to Lower Your Property Taxes

BY ST EVEN A. WEBER

ST. LOUIS COUNTY PROPERTIES WERE REASSESSED IN 2021 BY THE ASSESSOR’S OFFICE. THIS ASSESSMENT DETERMINES YOUR PROPERTY TAXES FOR 2021 AND 2022.

ven though 2022 is

Enot a reassessment year, properties that were not appealed in 2021 can be appealed in 2022. 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 20,000 appeals in St. Louis County alone

IMPORTANT NOTE: IF YOUR ASSESSED VALUE INCREASED BY MORE THAN 15%, WE BELIEVE AN

APPEAL IS WARRANTED. In 2021 and 2022, we are contending that the assessor failed to comply with inspection requirements when increasing values in excess of 15%. Par Residential often uses innovative strategies such as this to ensure our clients’ property tax bills are kept to a minimum. In addition, recent federal income tax rules include a $10,000 cap on the amount taxpayers can deduct in combined property tax and state and local income tax while nearly doubling standard deductions. This means many property owners 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. resulting in over $15,000,000 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. DETERMINE IF AN APPEAL IS

WARRANTED. PAR Residential determines a fair appraised value for your property based on real comparable sales in your neighborhood. We will also explore other avenues to appeal such as discrimination in the assessment process, and failure of the assessor to comply with inspection laws. 2. NOTIFICATION. We will notify you of the results of our review of your appraised value. If we determine that no appeal is warranted, no appeal will be filed. There will be no cost to you for our time and efforts.

3. FILE YOUR APPEAL BEFORE THE

JULY 11TH 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.

4. 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. 5. 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. You can learn more about saving money on your real estate taxes, the assessment and the appeal process by visiting www.parresidential.com.

INTERESTED IN GETTING STARTED?

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 314-4540505 from 9am to 5pm Monday through Friday.

STEVEN A. WEBER is the Founding Partner of 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 over 42 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 $250 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 $15,000,000 in real estate taxes since 2009 with over 80% of appeals resulting in tax savings.