All Forum Posts by: 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

If it makes you feel any better, ive walked away from 2 bad inspections in the past year.  Its part of the game and exactly why inpsections are for.  Accept it and move on to the next one my friend.  Dont be emotionally attached to it.

Define suck?

I love all the ideas.  The thought of just keeping it in stocks is growing on me whether its through ETFs and/or dividend paying stocks.  Similar to what @Cliff Harrison

 and @Jonathan Bethel 

mentioned.

@Account Closed

Hey Minh, can you elaborate on your thought?  You mean like using that cash to do a quick flip or something?   I like to have a liquid cash reserve available for the rental properties I own now and for emergencies.  Im constantly building cash to use for purchasing more real estate by using every penny made from my current RE investments as well as saving money from my w2 job.  So accumulating money to purchase more real estate is not really a problem for me.

@Steve B.

I would be willing to accept a little risk depending on what is out there but ultimately that is why I started this thread. I am looking for "free lunch" and was hoping somebody knew of where I can find it.

I was confused about Jennys remark also but then I think i figured it out. I think what she means is that she actually doesnt have any savings at all. She took out a HELOC to be used as emergency funds (savings if you will). So whatever of that money she does NOT use, she is saving the interest rate she would have to pay for that.

@Cale Ferguson

Yeah i looked into money market accounts, all the ones I found were actually even less then 1% around .89  They are horrible right now.  But yeah ultimately that is a little better then an actual savings account.

@Verna M.

Hey Verna, im with you on that. I use my rewards card to pay for everything then i pay it off at the end of each month.  So im already utilizing that.  I get 1% back on that too.  Actually, as soon as im done wrapping up this new mortgage im getting, im going to cancel that card and get a 2% citi rewards card that I recently learned about.   Ill double my rewards.  

Im just trying to be as efficient as I can with maximizing returns.  I understand a lot of people think its a waste to chase returns at 20k or less but even if I did have a small amount like that, I would still make an effort to try and get a return.  No sense in not doing that especially if I can figure it all out while I work my day job.  Win Win!

For the record im talking about constantly having anywhere from 25k to 50k in this account with it fluctuating as I buy new properties but always keeping a minimum of 25k.

@Trevor Ewen 

That is an awesome rate for a savings account.  If i could find one like that in texas minus all the transactions needed that would be perfect.

@Alexander Felice 

 I may be interested in what you are doing.  3 - 4 days to access funds would be okay with me too.  Is there a penalty for taking it out? Minimum balance? What kind of returns do you get on that?  Did you pick your own funds or is there an adviser that does all that for you?  

The best savings account rates i can find are 1%.  I was hoping someone knew of a better alternative.  Im not really interested in keeping my money in stocks as that I would consider investing with the risk of losing money.  I currently invest in real estate and will continue doing so.   What I mean by parking my money is literally just a temporary place to put it until I use it to purchase more real estate.   

Just a shame savings accounts dont offer higher yields.  Ive been told back in the days they were up to 5%.  I think that was in the 80s.

Ive been trying to figure out where I should keep my savings where I can maximize its growth and am really curious to hear where you think is the better place to do so.   

I want to keep the money as liquid as possible yet gain the maximum amount of growth available.   Im looking to be able to withdrawal at the drop of a dime with no penalties and no minimum balance requiresments.  Does this exist?

Ive considered online banks with slightly higher yields, money market accounts, certificates of deposit but the rates arent attractive at all.   

Looking to hear where you savvy financial people park your money.

Thanks