Just realized I was overpaying for property tax estimates on potential buys

I used to just take the city's online figure at face value, but after getting burned on a Corktown lot last fall, I started calling the assessor's office directly for the 'true cash value' breakdown. Anyone else have a better method for getting accurate numbers before making an offer?

3 comments

3 Comments

ward.jamie1mo ago

My buddy in real estate told me the city's online numbers can be a full 20% off because they don't account for recent owner exemptions or appeals. It's wild how much official data is just a rough guess. I see this everywhere now, from shipping estimates to utility bills. You really have to pick up the phone and talk to a human to get the real story. That extra step saves so much headache and money.

gibson.sarah1mo ago

Yeah the "rough guess" thing is SO real with city data. I had to call about a water bill last year that was double our normal, and it turned out they had the meter reading wrong for months. The online portal just showed the wrong number as fact. Now I call for anything over a certain amount, every single time. It takes ten minutes and has saved us hundreds.

hugomurray21d ago

So if I just start aggressively questioning every number on my bills, I basically get paid for being annoying? Sounds like a solid side hustle honestly. The city's probably running on a spreadsheet from 2003 with manual updates once a year, and we're all just trusting it like it's gospel. Next thing you'll tell me the tax assessment on my house is just a dude throwing darts at a board.