Services

The Objective:
Real estate property tax appeal is a data intensive industry. Large volumes of data are required for the comprehensive analysis of each individual property’s assessment accuracy. Data is either purchased, scraped, or obtained via public information request (FOIA). This data is then mashed up and analyzed for the story that it tells. In the case of an opined over assessment, the same volumes of data are referenced to generate the evidence necessary to support the request for property tax assessment reduction. Moreover, the implementation of large volumes of real estate assessment and market data allow for macro tax analyses per jurisdictional scope. Thus, enabling for a very proactive and targeted marketing/advertising campaign plan. 

The Tools:
Custom software development is required A heavy-duty relational database such as MySQL or SQL is ideal to do accomplish this objective. Though very common, an MS-Access database and MS-Excel spreadsheets are not designed for big data analysis functionality and lack the proper horsepower. Also, where there’s a relational database, a database host and database administrator is required.

The Solution:
Don’t reinvent the wheel. We currently have a large real estate relational database containing numerous tables, with millions of records pertaining to Cook and the collar counties. This database is consistently updated with data from many sources. As highly proficient SQL database engineers and data scientists we are capable of extracting and visualizing the profitable story that is inherent in the data. Schedule a phone consultation with us to learn how we may be of value to you.

The Objective:
If an attorney sets up shop and nobody knows about it, do they even have a business? In other words, without an effective marketing and advertising plan the best services for offer may as well not exist.

‘Word-of-mouth marketing’ is the referral by a satisfied client to the prospective client of your service. Referrals are considered the most effective method of client acquisition. An advertising plan that consists of a variety of promotional efforts; direct mail, social media sponsored posts, search engine ads, and etcetera are ideal to be created and executed upon to spread brand awareness, stimulate client intake, and incentive client referrals.

The Tools:
The type of targeted advertising varies per advertising channel: Direct mail allows you to target each individual specific property address though is expensive and a (low) 1% response rate is industry par. Social media and search engines are both great marketing channels. You may advertise on social media platforms per select target demographic, while on search engines you may advertise by both target demographic and search term. But, unless you’re willing to devote staffing resources to your internet ad campaign along with your client funnel, your ads will feel boring, the user interface/user experience (UI/UX) will be poor, and your efforts will project a company that is out of touch. This will result in a low client conversion rate, thus high client acquisition costs.

The Solution:
High client acquisition costs can kill a business. We are experienced in the development and deployment of advertising methods that are effective in driving client acquisition costs down. It is ideal to measure multiple metrics of an advertising campaign to track what is proving effective and what needs to change. The integration of custom web site landing pages and web applications into your campaign can boost your ability to convert clients as well as track how they made their way to you. As highly creative marketers we are capable of crafting, communicating, and positioning your story in front of your ideal prospective client while tracking and measuring the 5 w’s (who, what, where, when, why). Schedule a phone consultation with us to learn how we may be of value to you.

The Objective:
“Door Law” is a tongue-in-cheek term for an attorney that accepts any case that walks in the door. Attorneys should remain cognizant of a door law practice tendency even if they tout a niche specialization. As accepting ‘any’ case within their niche, sans screening, is also a form of door law that should be avoided as one of the quickest ways to fail is the attempt to be all things to all people.

In the world of real estate property tax appeal, it has become commonplace for a client to expect an analysis detailing if their property is projected as over-assessed and by how much in tax dollars such an over-valuation would amount to. This property tax analysis benefits the prospect in the form as a snapshot opinion of assessment accuracy and influences their decision to engage. The attorney benefits as they’re enabled to filter out the client cases whose further pursuit aren’t worthwhile, thus enabling more time to be allocated to the cases that do qualify.

The Tools:
Performance of property tax analyses are client qualifiers. As a preliminary analysis is expected to be complimentary, per industry par, it is wise to utilize a software facilitated/automated mechanism to perform them. Moreover, the software facilitated/automated scaling of property tax analyses allow for highly targeted advertising towards only those who have a case and of a particular financial threshold level. Front-loading client qualification measures virtually eliminates the occurrence of door law as the advertising by design is positioned in front of only those that you wish to serve.

The Solution:
The more you spend non-billable hours evaluating potential cases that come through the door, the more you will drive your client acquisition costs up and overall profits down. On the backs of our Data Collection/Aggregation asset we have developed a software tool that allows for the facilitation of an attorney customized Property Tax Analysis complete with property tax savings. Per township scope, we also provide bulk analyses which are intended for use in targeted advertising efforts as well as quickly being able to qualify/disqualify a walk-in case. Schedule a phone consultation with us to learn how we may be of value to you.

The Objective:
A client intake funnel is the series of steps required to get prospective clients to contact you, and then to take a specific action once they’ve have done so. For your client intake funnel to prove most effective, you should have a multi-pronged approach to it’s population such as a combination of online marketing, offline marketing, and referrals. Once in the funnel, it is deemed a success when a client is progressed from it’s beginning to end thus completing the client lifecycle.

The Tools:
Lead Capture
Website Form Submission, Email, Phone Call
Nurturing & Qualification
Auto-responder, Content Marketing, Drip Marketing, Follow-up, Prospect Screening
Client Conversion/Servicing
Property Tax Analysis Consultation, Online Intake Form/Authorization Execution, Online Service Agreement Execution, Property Tax Appeal Submission
Payment
Online/Offline Invoice Payment
Loyalty/Advocacy
Client Service Renewal, Client Referral

The Solution:
“The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.” – Bill Gates

Small inefficiencies are typically managed by human touch in the form of staffing. If you’ve ever been hesitant to grow your firm due to the idea that the current staff capacity would be overloaded by the uptick in clientele, chances are you have an inefficient operation that needs attention before the consideration of scale. The more parts of the client lifecycle that are automated the better. Process automation reduces overall staff bottlenecks, creates more of a time resource for focus on the critical tasks that require human attention, and overall client acquisition costs are reduced. Schedule a phone consultation with us to learn how we may be of value to you.

The Objective:
All client produced evidence and evidence generated by you must be considered at this step to craft an argument that best supports the claim of your clients real estate property assessment being in excess. This argument should be strong and composed expeditiously to meet submission deadlines. The required appeal submission package consists of; assessor/board of review complaint form, client authorization form, generated argument, produced/generated evidence, and etcetera. Many of the documents both required and suggested for the, per property, appeal submission package call for the input of; client information, property record information, attorney/firm information. Entering such data that makes up the appeal submission package, either repetitiously via manually writing by hand or electronically keying in data by hand

The Tools:
There are a selection of logical reasons that are most commonly used for the appeal of property tax assessment values. They include, but aren’t limited to, the following; Lack of Uniformity, Overvaluation, Partial or Full Vacancy, Fire Damage, Property Description Error, Uninhabitable Building, Building Demolished. Manually compiling the data to support one or more of the aforementioned arguments can prove laborious. As per an efficient Client Intake Funnel/Client Lifecycle, laborious tasks may inhibit firm growth where automation is the solution.

The Solution:
For counties in the state of Illinois, there is a 30-day window granted to submit property tax assessment appeals for each level of appeal. Such a time window becomes smaller, when perceived as an approximate 20 business days. When working within such tight time constraints for multiple client files it is ideal to have software facilitated/automated processes to generate the evidence necessary to accompany an appeal. Schedule a phone consultation with us to learn how we may be of value to you.

The Objective:
This is a very deadline sensitive practice. Annually in Cook County there are 3 opportunities (Assessor, Board of Review, Property Tax Appeal Board) for property tax assessment appeal, in all other Illinois counties there are 2 (Board of Review, Property Tax Appeal Board). There are numerous township deadlines, sometimes they come one at a time, sometimes they come in batches at once, and rarely do they come at the same time every year. In most cases, you are given a 30-day time window to obtain the latest published assessment data, create your appeal submission package, and submit it. Such a time window virtually becomes less, when multiple jurisdiction/township deadlines overlap each other (such as the Cook County Assessor and Board of Review often do). Some appeals may be submitted electronically online and others must be printed, stapled, and submitted in person during office hours. The logistical maze that is the nature of a property tax appeal business is not for the faint of heart.

The Tools:
To stay alert of these essential dates you can subscribe to county assessor email newsletters and daily check the county assessor websites.

The Solution:
Miss a deadline and your client might just sue you. This causes those who choose the niche of property tax appeal to work like a lunatic within a short period of time. The tracking and compliance of the necessary county appeal submission deadlines are essential to staying above ground. We have a SMS text message/email alert system for county assessor, board of review, and property tax appeal board deadlines throughout the year. Schedule a phone consultation with us to learn how we may be of value to you.

The Objective:
Depending on jurisdiction, receiving appeal results can take anywhere from a couple of weeks to a few months. The format of result may arrive as a USPS mailed paper printout and/or an email containing a PDF scan of the appeal result paper printout. Then, it is common practice to calculate an estimated tax savings versus an actual tax savings due to the staggered release nature of both the tax rate and the multiplier (a.k.a equalizer) values. This is because such values may be released, per respective county, months apart from the appeal results and at unpredictable times. Sending invoices via USPS (snail) mail that instruct the client to return payment by the same method can cause for unnecessary delays toward invoice reception and postage/stationary costs.

The Tools:
The result data may likely require manual data-entry to transfer the numerical assessment change amounts to a spreadsheet (or other application) utilized to calculate the estimated tax savings amount, per the formula of:

{pre-appeal Assessment Value (-) post-appeal Assessment Value} * {latest published tax rate} * {latest published multiplier a.k.a equalizer} = estimated tax savings

The latest published tax rate and multiplier must be retrieved from the county clerk and Illinois Department of Revenue, respectively.

The Solution:
Collecting the tax rates and multiplier values for every invoiced appeal may prove burdensome especially when combined with the task of the generation and dispatch of invoices. Burdensome tasks are not only expensive when considering their allocated staffing costs, but also such tasks are slow to be executed. Delays in invoice dispatch can cause subsequent delays in their payment receipt. Cash is oxygen to any business, thus delays in income are to be avoided at all costs. Among the data that we collect and aggregate is that of the tax rates and multipliers for multiple jurisdictions. Using this data, we have created a software facilitated invoicing system that allows for the electronic creation, dispatch, and payment of invoices. Schedule a phone consultation with us to learn how we may be of value to you.