Reporter advocating Cook County property owners challenge their own tax assessment forgets to mention she lost her appeal

June 01, 2023 5

An Axios reporter last week wrote an article throwing cold water on using an attorney to appeal one's Cook County property tax assessment. 

One small wrinkle in the story she forgot to mention: Her own attempt to secure a reduction failed. 

We know the latter fact because she later went on Fox for an interview about her experience, where she revealed her attempt bore no fruit. 

In the article, Monica Eng cites figures claiming to illustrate how appealing one's own assessment yields about as high a likelihood of success as using an attorney. 

The figures were interesting, basically stating your odds of winning any appeal are slightly less than four in ten, with or without an attorney in your corner.

As a practitioner operating almost exclusively in the residential appeal space for more than a decade, Property Tax Solutions holds years of data to draw upon to measure up the claim. 

While we cannot speak to the success rates of competing practitioners, we can, emphatically, point to the results of a decade plus in operation which show success rates far higher than Ms. Eng cites. 

PTS wins upwards of 80 percent of its appeals on behalf of clients, because we target the over-assessed. Our data processing tools rank second to none and, if you receive our marketing, it's because we know your assessment is demonstrably too high. 

Eng insinuates in her reporting that homeowners can potentially do a better job because they know their property better than practitioners. This sounds plausible, but is in reality preposterous. PTS scours, ranks, weighs and measures the assessment data for all properties on your block, choosing the best material possible and organized precisely in tax-per-square-foot argumentation. 

This kind of research project, which we can do for any property in the County, would be a weeks-long research project for any individual homeowner. So, yes, you do know your property better than us. But no individual could prepare a better tax appeal on their property than this particular practitioner. Give us a shot and see!