You can reduce property taxes for free, so don’t fall for companies that charge for this service. When I arrived home yesterday, I saw a wonderful letter from a nice company offering to save me thousands of dollars on my property tax. Since property values have cratered, they told me I could apply to have my property tax reduced, saving me big bucks.
The company would go through the trouble of filling out the documents and acting as my advocate with the nasty authorities in Sacramento. All they wanted in exchange for this wonderful service was $179.
At first, it looked like a reasonable offer. I dislike paperwork and I have enough on my plate. I do want to save money of course and I love saving time. I did a Google search and I even found comments that were very complimentary of these companies. But just for fun, I went to the County Assessor. Here’s what I learned.
Regardless of where you live, chances are you can fill out a one-page form and save the $179.
Visit your County Assessor website and do a search for Decline in Value Reassessment form. Don’t fall for these companies who are little better than debt relief scams. In fact, they’re probably owned by the same people!
Have you received one of these scam letters? Did you fall for it? How did you respond?
Belmont Thornton says
April 22, 2010 at 9:53 PMThanks for sharing the video Neal.The fee charged for the service is reasonable considering the return you are getting.
chris says
December 13, 2009 at 9:18 PMI honestly dont feel it is a SCAM. It is a service just like going to court with a lawyer. Ive gotten myself out of numerous tickets or court supervision whereas I wouldve had to pay a lawyer for the same results. I think its a good idea and 179 is pretty cheap when you consider they could be saving you thousands of dollars although if you have the time and effort, you can do it all by yourself. My uncle got my grandfathers company taxes lowered 25,000. Its not as simple as walking in and saying can you reduce my taxes.
Neal says
February 13, 2009 at 1:47 AMGood Job Pam. Thanks for the comment!
Neal
Pam Delgado says
February 13, 2009 at 12:43 AMHi Neal.
I received two of those letters on the same day. Ha! I felt like it was a scam as soon as I read the part requesting $179. Maybe I am just too leary about getting some amazing great deal (for a small fee of course). I can’t tell you how many times I have won the UK Online lottery. (there is no such thing) Oh, but if it were only true………….and then I woke up.
We’ve lived here since 1975 and I was more concerned that the assessment they had wouldn’t be high enough. Not interested in opening a can of worms. Prop 13 is old, and we did do a remodel which made our taxes go up, but I’m glad we don’t pay the taxes people have to pay now.
So, I threw both letters away.