All Forum Posts by: Matthew Whitaker

Hey @Helen C. , 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

@Chris Clothier

Seems everyone agrees on this being a very helpful post. I appreciate your transparency related to your business practices and KPI’s. Some we track that I didn’t see are. . .

Related to leasing:

• Showings per property
• # of Applications (total and by property)
• # of Approvals (total and by property)
• # of Declines (total and by property)
• # of Leases signed

Related to new Owners:

• Inbound Leads
• Outbound Leads
• Consultations
• Signed Management Agreements
• # New Units

Related to occupied properties:

• MRE’s – These are “Moving Related Errors” – this is where we drop the ball on a move in or move out.
• # of touches a property manager has each week based on categories – touch = a drive by or visit to a property.

Because we are in slightly different businesses, you probably track these in different ways. Thanks again for the informative post. I hope these help out as well.

m

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.