The Assessors office normally starts assessments in January but is delayed. Each township (a section of the county) will be released a few townships at a time. This is expected any day. Cook County is divided into 3 sections - generally Chicago, North suburbs and South suburbs. In 2021, Chicago is reassessed so the current assessments reflect 2020, not 2021. For the suburbs, the current assessments will give a good guide about your taxes right now because they don't normally change from 2020 to 2021. You can check the dates for each township here when they are released.

Once you enter your property information, a chart appears showing how your property compares to similar properties near you. The chart includes your property as a blue bar and other properties with lower or higher taxes as other bars. If your blue bar is far to the left, that usually indicates that your taxes are already lower. If your blue bar is far to the right, there are many properties with lower taxes. The height of the bar is the number of properties and the percentage is the tax savings you would expect if your property was taxed the same as the group the column describes.

While you can see the “Tax Reduction Opportunity Assessment” for free, you must purchase access to the property to see the comparable properties used for evidence.

Appeals will only be successful with similar properties that have lower taxes. Taxes are always measured per square feet and the software will automatically put the lowest taxed properties at the top of the list indicating a percentage lower. The search criteria in PropertyTaxCheckup.com default generally to most similar so always start with an examination of those properties first. If there are many similar with lower taxes per square foot, then you do not need to examine less similar properties (like further away or much newer or larger) to find further reductions. To do the most complete analysis, you can first widen the search criteria one item at a time. For example, widen Square Footage from plus or minus 10% (which is the default) to plus or minus 15% then 20%. Next return that search criteria back to plus or minus 10%, then widen another search criteria like age from plus or minus 10 years to plus or minus 15 years or more. Finally, you can start widening multiple criteria at the same time. Your final list of properties should never include only properties that were found using very different or wider criteria. As the software cannot “see” what the property looks like, you should strive to have properties that also look similar like the number of stories or external finish like siding or brick.

When using a printed evidence sheet (as opposed to just entering PINs in an online appeal) you must have a recent photo of the property. Some tax professionals also suggest uploading a recent photo of the comparable properties. Three methods are available – upload a picture, “grab” a picture from Google Maps, or load a Google Streetview photo.

• Method 1: Using a phone or camera, a picture file can be uploaded by clicking on the picture in the list, selecting the file, entering the date that the picture was taken, and then using the “Save Image” button.
• Method 2: A faster method but requiring more technical skills is opening the picture by clicking on it, then hitting Google Maps and using a screen capture tool like “Snipping Tool” that comes with Microsoft Windows (or by hitting Shift-Command-4 on a Mac) and then selecting just the part of the screen that holds the property image. Return and press ctrl-V to paste the image, enter a date and then press “Save Image”.
• Method 3: The fastest method is clicking the "Google Streeview" button, then hitting "Save Image". Because sometimes the image quality can be low, this method might be useful for comparable properties instead of the subject property where the image quality is less important.

Note the subject photo needs to be taken within the prior calender year. If the picture still looks the same as the house the owner can attest that it is current and use the picture. Click the i button (for info) above the picture column for more information.

Most likely the address you entered is slightly different than the spelling on your tax bill. Another reason might be that a very small number of properties have incomplete information in the public records or have inaccurate data. These are excluded from analysis or listed as $-10 per square foot. Currently, this can only be handled by using a very similar property (like a neighbor with a very similar home) as a proxy for missing properties then editing the evidence sheet with a pdf editor. If you run into this problem, also feel free to email support@propertytaxcheckup.com for suggestions or assistance. (This issue does not require advanced review fees.)

Some properties are missing square footage so cannot be used in analysis except as the subject (not as a comparable.) If this is the property being analyzed, an “Override Sq Ft.” field can be used to enter the correct information.

A small number of properties don’t have standard information in the database. Most properties have a unique number called Permanent Index Number (PIN) assigned by the government to each property. But sometimes, a single PIN represents more than one property (called a Multi) or a single property sits on more than one PIN (called a Prorate.) Multis often lack critical data so should be avoided if possible. Prorates can have lower taxes so can be used but should not be the only or most of comparable properties utilized. (Note for advanced users: Multis are included as comparables when the propery data is identifyable because one and only one of the properties has the same class as the primary property record. Don't use $-10 as comparable properties unless later manually edited using correct facts.)

If needed, the most popular pdf editing tool is Adobe Acrobat which is currently $25 per month so expensive unless you cancel. We also recommend PDFsam Enhanced Standard which is $69 per year so much less expensive.

PropertyTaxCheckup.com does not have evidence reports specifically geared for Condos. As Condo data does not include square feet, the standard analysis does not fit the evidence reports. However, Condos can be analyzed and appealed using the data from the property list. This must be manually calculated using an application like Excel and then written up as an appeal based on Condo Sales. The Analysis Report provides standard calculations to support appeals.

Calculating Condos

Condo data includes percentage of ownership. So, for example, one unit of a five unit building might be 10% of the value of the entire building. As the Assessed Value is 10% of the Market Value for the Assessor, an Assessed Value of $10,000 for that unit would translate to a Market Value of $100,000 for the unit, and since the unit is 10% of the building, a Market Value for the building of $1,000,000.

Continuing this example, if a similar unit (same 10% of ownership) sold for $80,000, then this would place the value of the entire building at $800,000. So you would ask for your unit to be valued at $80,000 Market Value and $8,000 Assessed Value based on this sale and potentially multiple sales. As condos often contain different sized units that contain different percentage of ownerships, you can use similar math for other sales to argue for a reduction even if the units are not the same size. In a new example, if a bigger unit at 20% ownership sold for $180,000, this would value the building at $900,000 ($180,000/.2). This supports a valuation of $90,000 Market Value and $9,000 Assessed Value for the first property.

To enable this analysis, select a distance of "Condo" and Sales of "Recent" in the search criteria. For each unit that recently sold, PropertyTaxCheckup.com calculates the value of the entire building and the percentage difference between the Assessor's value and Sale value. It finds the best (lowest) sales first. Note that some sales in the list can be actually higher then the assessed value, so you should not include these properties in your analysis - just make sure the percentage is negative. (If you see many sales higher, so will the Assessor and your appeal will not likely be successful.) By selecting "Condos", the system will include all properties with the same first ten digits of the PIN as the remaining four digits as normally used to include units within the same building. The analysis does not work across buildings except if basically identical.