Saving thousands $ in property taxes

[Luke Terry]

Hey everyone,

If you're able to purchase properties well below the appraised tax level, I highly recommend appealing to the county to have your property taxes lowered.  It doesn't require much effort although it's a slow moving process.

Here's what I did:

Between January and April of each year, I'd check to see to what the tax value of any homes I purchased from the prior year on the county website (here's the link for Cuyahoga county): https://myplace.cuyahogacounty.us/

If I was able to buy a house from the prior year for a meaningful amount less I'd submit an appeal to lower the property taxes.  A ballpark way to estimate this is if the county values the property at $100K and you purchased it for $50K and your tax bill is $2K for the year, if you successfully challenge it will decrease the tax bill by $1K (50%)  

Here's the link to the Cuyahoga County board of revision to submit change requests: 

https://bor.cuyahogacounty.us/en-US/complaints-search.aspx

Sometime in the following months you get an appointment to appear at the office.  Your purchase contract is the most relevant documentation to prove the real value of the home.  I presented that during the hearing and it was a very straightforward process.  My hearings were in August after submitting the revision request in March.

I even did these appeals for flips that I no longer owned.  I just had to notify them that I'd like the check mailed to me as opposed to the current home owner.  This was especially helpful in high tax cities like Shaker Heights and Cleveland Heights.

The county does an appraisal every few years so even though my rentals will have their values readjusted in the next 3 years, at least in the interim I've been able to save a few hundred dollars a year per property through reduced property taxes.

Hopefully this is helpful and am interested in hearing any other tips others might have.