Lowering property taxes through a tax consulting firm?

[Joel A.]

Ive been approached by a tax firm telling me they have a 90% success rate at lowering property taxes in Travis and Williamson counties which is in Austin, TX.

Im really intrigued by this and may proceed but thought i'd throw some concerns on here first.

My concerns are:

1) the fee they charge which is

"Consultant shall be paid 40% of the value of actual tax savings to Client resulting from Consultant’s efforts. For example, if the Original Notice Value of Client’s property was $200,000, and if the property’s final certified value was $150,000, Client would owe Consultant an amount equal to 40% of the tax rate that would have applied to that $50,000 difference. This fee is earned only in the year in which the tax savings occur, and client will not owe it in Years 2, 3, etc., based on the reduction in the assessed value from Year 1."

Does that seem like a high fee to you?

2) Im wondering how they are pulling off such a high success rate in this area.  All the properties i own here in my opinion are already significantly lower priced by the tax assessors compared to retail value. What secrets are these firms using that im not seeing?  If i got an actual appraisal on my houses it would be more then the tax appraised value so I see no motive to even try and contest the property taxes on my own.

I would love to increase my cash flow a bit which is why Im looking into this but do any of you have first hand knowledge on these tax consultant firms that specialize in lowering property taxes?

Thanks