How to Find Comps for a Property Tax Appeal (and What Actually Counts as Comparable)

A comp is a property enough like yours that a stranger would price the two the same way. For a tax appeal you generally want at least four of them, they come from your county's own property records rather than a real estate website, and pulling them costs nothing but your evening. That last part mat

How to Appeal Your Property Taxes in Kankakee County (and How to File It Yourself)

Kankakee County publishes assessment changes in September and sets a single final appeal date in October for the entire county. The county posts that exact date each year, and filing the appeal costs you nothing. I know the process works because I ran it on my own house. My assessment jumped about 2

How to Appeal Your Property Taxes in Will County (and How to File It Yourself)

My assessment jumped about 25 percent, and my first reaction was the same one most people have, which is to assume somebody official had already checked the number and it must be right. Nobody had checked it. I appealed on comparable properties, and the valuation came down somewhere in the range of

How to Read Your Cook County Reassessment Notice (and What to Do in the Next 30 Days)

A letter shows up from the Cook County Assessor with a new, bigger number on it, and most people do one of two things: toss it in a drawer, or panic. Both are mistakes. That letter is your reassessment notice, and it is not a bill, it is the one window you get to challenge your home's new value befo