Hi,

Can anyone recommend someone to help me protest/appeal my property taxes in Birmingham, AL? Any help is much appreciated. Thanks.

Can't do it now I know that you'll have to wait until later this year - I want to say October. It's not that difficult they set up time and you go there and argue.

I would be interested in this as well. I have heard from local realtors and investors that the process has purposely been made very difficult being that Birmingham is broke. I know almost all of my properties are over-assessed. I would be interested in a resource for protesting the real estate taxes as well.

I've done it several times, I can look into it and if it's legal I can do it for $50.00 a property. Please PM if your interested.

Basically, you file the paperwork initially with them saying you want to protest then you get comps off the MLS.

This is a Jefferson county process not Birmingham. Mind you they usually don't go crazy downward. The most I got last year was 20k reduction in the 5 houses I did.

October 1st (through December 31st) is when you can pay your taxes for the year. I don't recall the exact date, but in order to dispute the amount, you have to do it by May or so. Call the tax office and ask them the exact date.

The County used to send out postcards earlier in the year indicating what your taxes would be come October, and if you wanted to dispute it you had to fill in the back of the card and send it in by the deadline. For the last year or two, they have changed that, and don't send out any notices if they haven't increased your tax amount. It's up to someone to contact the tax assessor's office themselves to initiate a tax grievance.

Also, if you grieve your taxes this May, for example, and the county decides to accept a lower assessed value, they do not change the amount or assessment for the payment due in October. The lower amount would then be used for the following year's taxes.

Thanks Morgan. My understanding is that you have to be a licensed realtor or appraiser in order to "represent" someone else for the tax grievance process.

Morgan,

Thanks for offering your help, but like Dawn, I was under the impression that you must have a licensed attorney, realtor to represent someone else; is that wrong?

Unfortunately, I live out of state so I am looking for someone local to represent me at court.

Thanks.

I am in the Birmingham area and just posted the same question.. Sorry I don't have any input just looking for help. 

Good morning everyone. Although I do not know the law involving representing someone else for appealing property tax purposes, I can say that I know Morgan. He and I are both local Realtors. We both work in the property management industry that deals with SFR. Please let me know if anyone has additional questions that we mat be able to help with.

Good morning all,

I work with Matt and have personally done this a number of times for our clients.  You are correct in saying that you need either a licensed local agent or an attorney to represent you when appealing these. 

My suggestion would be to contact Brian Cloud ([email protected]).  He's told me that he handles these and I'm confident he understands them.

Biggest advice when getting this done:  Make sure you get someone who understands the process and understands how the Board of Equalization thinks.  If you think using logic will get your appraisal lowered that is not the case.  You must "speak their language" and work within their process.

Originally posted by @Matthew Whitaker :

Good morning all,

I work with Matt and have personally done this a number of times for our clients.  You are correct in saying that you need either a licensed local agent or an attorney to represent you when appealing these. 

My suggestion would be to contact Brian Cloud ([email protected]).  He's told me that he handles these and I'm confident he understands them.

Biggest advice when getting this done:  Make sure you get someone who understands the process and understands how the Board of Equalization thinks.  If you think using logic will get your appraisal lowered that is not the case.  You must "speak their language" and work within their process.

I just got my bill and the assessed value is 30% over what it was loan appraised for this summer. I am looking for a local person do the protest for a share of the savings.

Originally posted by @Morgan Smith :

I've done it several times, I can look into it and if it's legal I can do it for $50.00 a property. Please PM if your interested.

Basically, you file the paperwork initially with them saying you want to protest then you get comps off the MLS.

This is a Jefferson county process not Birmingham. Mind you they usually don't go crazy downward. The most I got last year was 20k reduction in the 5 houses I did.

 I just got my bill and the assessed value is 30% over what it was loan appraised for this summer. I am looking for a local person do the protest for a share of the savings.

The tax protest for Jefferson County (Birmingham) is open for then next 30 day.  These links take you to the process.

"2016 market values are official as of May 11, 2016" according to http://boe.jccal.org

How to protest: 

http://boe.jccal.org/Sites/Jefferson_County/Docume...

I have one SFR and would like to find a local agent who can represent me for the protest process.

Yes, we are handling them and have started to receive a bunch of emails/calls about them.  Keep in mind that you only have 30 days to start the process.  Also, we are hearing that Jefferson County is trying to pull fast ones by only sending out notices to people where the property value has increased.  I would check all of your properties located in Jefferson County. 

Its that time of the year again!

Hi everyone, just reading this threat now as I am looking to buy TK rental(s) in the surrounding suburbs for passive income.  How can one assess extent of CF sucker this annual tax assessment hike presents?  The whole point of investing in the area is because of higher return than other markets and doing TK is to be hassle-free. But if I have to cough up on taxes and find and hire someone to protest, it could render the investment much less appealing.  Can anyone advise? Greatly appreciate your thoughts. 

Hey @Helen Cheung , all in all, the property taxes in Birmingham are low relative to many other parts of the country.  If you hire someone to protest the taxes this year, you should get some residual value out of protesting them for the next few years.  I wouldn't expect to hire someone every year, except for the new properties you purchase.

Lastly, owning rental property is not exactly "passive". So I wouldn't approach this investment like that. If you want to own "passive" real estate invest in a public REIT. Owning rental homes requires you to make decisions like property tax protests fairly often. While hiring a good manager takes most of the headaches out of owning rental homes, it doesn't remove all of them.

Hope this helps!

m